Canadian Heritage committee  It does appear to do that. I don't even know if that's the intent, but we're very concerned about that possibility. I'll use the expression “the lowest common denominator”. It creates the possibility for broadcasters, for example, and to a certain extent those who produce, to create the lowest common denominator.

Canadian Heritage committee  Nathalie, do you want to go ahead?

Canadian Heritage committee  Most of what I'm going to say has been said by both Professor Saulnier and my colleague. I think what's vital to realize here is that—and I think Professor Saulnier already said it—this isn't new. Other countries in the world, particularly in the European Union, are leading the way here.

Canadian Heritage committee  As you heard, we're in favour of diverse cultural expressions. That's our raison d'être. The window is closing because, whether it's deliberate or inadvertent, the large platforms are taking over. We need to allow particularly our indigenous folks, and other communities as well, the ability to continue to receive funding through the various means that the traditional broadcasters have provided.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm going to start. Thank you, Dr. Fry, and I'd like to thank the committee very much for having us once again. It's a great honour, and we're very pleased to be here. My name is Bill Skolnik. I am the co-chair of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. We are an alliance of 47 associations representing more than 200,000 performers, creators, technicians and professionals, and 2,000 organizations in music, screen production, book and music publishing, live performance and the visual arts.

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, as an aside, you have in your town Centre In The Square, which is one of the great halls in the country, for those of you who don't know. It is a perfect example of where to go to get great acoustics and to record, by the way.

Canadian Heritage committee  Good. So have I. Anyway, I want to refer back to Wendy and John. I use this phrase: It's not mutually exclusive. Helping one does not take away from the other. We need to take advantage of the fact that we can enhance our own folks with our own talent. We're worried that the regulations will be lowered to the lowest common denominator, that we need to say they can do this, but if they want to get these benefits, they have to use Canadians and use them all the way through.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I think the amendments we're offering—I'm not going to go over them—do provide some opportunities to do that. I also think that having American production companies here, as Wendy has pointed out, and the training that we receive and the experience that our people receive just result in even better products from Canadians.

Canadian Heritage committee  If you're talking about actual numbers, I don't have them at hand, but I can tell you that if you want to read The Globe and Mail of two days ago, you can see what has happened to great people who have been classified as stars, such as Ashley MacIsaac and Old Man Luedecke. It has been devastating.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you to the committee for inviting us here this afternoon. My name is Bill Skolnik. I'm co-chair of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, CDCE. We are a coalition of 43 organizations representing more than 200,000 creators, performers and professionals in trade associations, music and screen production, publishers, unions and collectives.