Official Languages committee  I had a chance to speak with Radio-Canada officers Yvan Cloutier and Pierre Ouellette and to discuss what that entailed. They said it was having an enormous impact because it was helping them retain programs and consider new ones. Remember that Radio-Canada wanted to sever its relationship with Windsor at one point.

Official Languages committee  It has also reduced its purchases almost as significantly, in fact by about 75%. We make the same presentations to encourage the provincial government to place its advertising with francophone media organizations, since they rely on that revenue. A few months ago, I was amused to read that the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star were talking about the cuts in advertising placed in the print media by both levels of government and how that put them in a difficult situation.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the 622,340 Franco-Ontarians, I want to thank the Standing Committee on Official Languages for welcoming us today and giving us the opportunity to discuss a topic of great importance, the survival and vitality of our minority language media. I am here today with Bryan Michaud, our organization's policy analyst.