[English]
Pursuant to Standing Order 108, this is a review of support programs for official language minority community media.
It's our pleasure to have with us today, from The Sherbrooke Record, Sharon McCully, Publisher, and George Guzmas, Co-Publisher of the North Shore News. Sharon and George, welcome.
We're starting a bit late, and I think we might have to adjourn prior to when we expected. We're trying to do this as fast as possible, but the message that you are bringing to us is very important.
[Translation]
is going to announce her action plan. As I mentioned earlier, the action plan is on the verge of being rolled out.
[English]
It's very important to hear your comments about that.
You will have 10 minutes, both of you, or five to seven minutes each.
We'll start with Sharon. Sharon, go ahead. Welcome.
:
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for your invitation to appear before you today.
[English]
I began my career in journalism 40 years ago in the Gaspé. At that time, we were trying to get a minority-language newspaper created. There was no English media whatsoever at that time, and CBC, the only English radio, was coming to them from New Brunswick. There was no way for people in the Gaspé to have any information about the policies that were affecting them, so we started a newspaper there in 1977. I'm happy to say it's still going strong. CBC is also there. We got them up Mont Carleton over the Baie-des-Chaleurs, and everything is fine with them there.
The newspaper I'm with is The Sherbrooke Record. You may know it. It's probably one of the storied newspapers. It was the first newspaper of Conrad Black, David Radler, and Peter White. The newspaper was also owned by the Bassett family, who are very important in newspapers, and by Pierre Péladeau. We talked to Pierre Karl about the English-speaking community, because he would come to visit us often. It is also the newspaper, again, of the same corporate owners.
The Record celebrated its 121st anniversary last month by launching a user-friendly digital archive of every publication since 1897. The pages of our newspaper are as valuable as any archival resource in documenting the development of our communities. Woven together, they tell a story of a once vibrant English-speaking community that built an institutional network of schools, churches, hospitals, and community centres, many of which have disappeared now. As a historic tool, they provide first-hand accounts of the formation and evolution of our communities.
While access to English media is not an issue for the English-speaking Quebecker as it is with the French-language minority outside of Quebec, the content of English media is rarely relevant to English-speaking people living off the Island of Montreal. For that reason, the presence of community papers is vital, particularly in remote areas, where the local newspaper is the key source of news and information. We appreciate 's saying that local journalism is a factor that she is considering.
Every day, readership surveys tell us that even with digital media, the print newspaper, a community newspaper, is the key source of news.
We've had difficulties and challenges over the decades. The new digital media age is the not the only challenge we've had. In the seventies it was the proliferation of French-language weeklies. In every community in Quebec, the small but mighty subscriber-based English-language newspapers were quickly vanishing in the face of French-language small newspapers that were being distributed free of charge. This changed the playing field for all of us. Many English publishers responded by abandoning their own subscription base and going to free distribution. With a readership of only 10% in some areas of Quebec, the minority-language paper had to send out 50,000 copies of a paper to reach 5,000 people, so you had to be very selective in how you did your distribution.
The changes in technology have been a constant challenge. Technology not only changed the way newspapers were produced but also gave consumers a number of electronic alternatives to newspapers that fitted with their fast-paced lifestyles. For minority-language newspapers struggling to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the introduction of the Internet and social media presented new obstacles as well as new opportunities, which in themselves present challenges when pitted against giants like Google and Facebook.
We also face demographic changes in Quebec. The declining number of English speakers in the province continues to be a major factor. At our paper, we all mourn when we read the obituary page, because we know that when this generation of older anglophones is gone, unless there is some miraculous intervention, the paper will require another reincarnation to survive. Attracting and retaining new readers is a challenge for all newspapers in a changing landscape regardless of size or language, but more so for a minority publication, which must also contend with readers at one end dying, and at the other end leaving the province or using social media to get their news.
The distribution of a minority paper requires creativity, in-depth knowledge of the community, and a lot of money. Unlike majority-language publications that have well-defined geographic borders, the minority community is dispersed in small pockets over a vast territory, and not all of it in a straight line. The introduction of e-editions of our newspaper has helped us in many ways.
Community papers have benefited from the federal government's publications assistance program for over a century, but that program is also in need of revision to respond to changes within the industry.
Another hardship facing minority newspapers is the absence of a sustained policy or a commitment on the part of the federal government to reach the minority population through newspaper advertising. For example, when a freeze on government advertising was imposed by a previous government, decision-makers failed to recognize the impact such a freeze would have on minority newspapers, both in terms of advertising revenues and on the dissemination of vital government information to the minority community. A special commission was launched to study the impact, and the freeze was partially lifted, though never fully reinstated.
More recently, the federal government's decision to use electronic media to transmit its messages has virtually shut out English-speaking seniors and thousands of others living outside of urban centres. The lack of visibility of the federal government in local newspapers also signals a lack of confidence in our papers, and the loss of those revenues for newspapers has threatened their very existence.
Why, you may ask, with all the challenges facing English-language newspapers in Quebec, do we continue to publish? Well, it's because we must. As long as there is an English-language community, there will be a need, with an expectation that the newspaper will always be there. When we were assessing our losses at the Record the day after we had a major fire in 1999, I received a call from one of our elderly subscribers. She didn't get her paper. I explained to her that last night our presses, the equipment, and everything we had had burned, and the paper was gone. She said, “Well, am I going to get it tomorrow?”
A hon. member: I remember that.
Ms. Sharon McCully: This is quite typical of the average reader of community newspapers. What has remained constant over the century is the commitment that our newspapers bring to respond to those needs.
If they were strictly commercial ventures, the owners would probably have thrown in the towel long ago. However, we're more than purveyors of news; we are the cement that unites members of a geographically dispersed minority community, a bridge between French-speaking and English-speaking neighbours, the link between past and present, and tangible evidence of the continued presence of an English-speaking population in Quebec. As long as there is a minority-language newspaper, there is proof of daily life in our communities to our schools, our churches, and community volunteer groups.
The need to inform communities, particularly those in isolated rural regions, is critical. Past editions of our newspapers documented the centralization of services and the dismantling of rural economies. The demise of VIA Rail and Canada Post and the cuts to regional CBC bureaus testify to the impact of decisions on all rural regions, but more profoundly on the minority communities who live there.
My words and comments reflect the words and comments of all publishers and owners of official languages newspapers. We all work really hard, with great passion, to keep our newspapers alive in order to continue to cover, with journalistic integrity, our local communities' issues and people not covered by any other media. We do all that by being some type of miracle-worker, since the hours that we and our dedicated staff put in every week do not reflect the remuneration allocated.
I assure you that all those working in a local official-language newspaper believe in being part of and helping their communities, especially the seniors who depend on reading their newspaper in the language they understand. In other words, all those working in our official languages newspapers believe in their vocation, and they are proud of it.
Publishing an English paper in Quebec is very hard. French papers outside Quebec have ad support from some of the provincial governments. Here, because of the provincial government's policies, we get nothing as English papers. Furthermore, in the last years we are paying an unfair recycling tax of thousands of dollars because the Quebec government compares advertising flyers with newspapers that print news content.
Also, you must know that aside from a small reduction of our recycling invoice, Quebec announced recently that it wants each paper to spend up to $30,000 on a study in order to get equal financial help from the Quebec government for innovation. On top of that, in Quebec, with the adoption of Bill 122, municipalities are no longer obligated to advertise public notices in local papers, even though the English papers in Quebec rarely get such notices. That is the context of community papers in Quebec.
Now let's come to the federal government. For your information, the 35 English community papers in Quebec received $350,000 in federal advertising in 2002. In this fiscal year finishing on March 2018, we received only $15,000, which is less than $500 per paper. The federal assistance program, the former magazine fund, does not help any of the community papers, especially English papers in Quebec. This is because, as Sharon said, we distribute for free, most of us door-to-door, which costs a lot in our municipality, and we are sustained only by advertising.
We believe in the integrity of journalism. We provide news and local content as community papers. We are the only ones who cover and write about our MPs, their activities, and the various programs presented through the different ministries. We report and write everything. We check them out because we believe in credible journalism and not in fake news.
You must know that our hard work is used by Google and Facebook to create content and sell ads. Actually, an analysis in a recent study based on stats found out that the content has generated $23 million of advertising in Quebec, revenue that of course we're not getting. The analysts believe that in Quebec we should get at least half of that, $11 million, but as you know, we will not get it.
Going digital is not sustainable economically for French newspapers outside of Quebec or for English papers in Quebec. The numbers speak for themselves. Web advertising cannot sustain the papers financially because digital revenue is calculated as per 1,000 views. If the paper sells it, it's $5 per 1,000 views. A maximum of three ads per page, as instructed by Google, yields $15 per page.
Let's say my papers go fully digital. To keep my journalists and small staff, I would need $25,000 per month. To get that revenue, I would need to generate 1.7 million page views, and these are ads that we have to sell. If Google gets those ads for us, then we get $1 per 1,000 views, for which I would then need 8 million views, the same number that La Presse has. La Presse spent $47 million for its program. La Presse generates $2,300 per day in revenue.
Community papers, you must know, get about 20,000 to 30,000 views per month, which is $400 in revenue per month or $4,800 per year. If these ads are sold by Google, revenue comes down to $2,400 per year. Who am I going to pay with $2,400 per year? Not even the janitor. Now you know about all ads placed in newspapers.
We demonstrated the importance of ads when H1N1 happened in Quebec and across Canada. There was a big campaign about H1N1 and everybody knew where to go and how to go about it.
We are also faced with unfair taxation. Our ads are taxed, while Google and Facebook ads are not. This is not fair.
In conclusion, by sustaining the viability of official-language papers, you will be sustaining thousands of jobs for middle-class Canadians. You'll be sustaining the newsroom and protecting Canadian journalism, sustaining jobs of our middle-class family employees who work in our newspapers, sustaining jobs for printers and their employees who print our papers, sustaining jobs in the paper mill industry and of their employees who produce the paper we print on, and sustaining jobs in the forest industry where paper material comes from. As you can see, sustaining official-language papers has positive employment repercussions in many other fields. That is the reality check of things.
It's up to you to decide the future of official-language papers. You, the members of the standing committee, have the power to help official-language papers in Quebec and outside of Quebec, which provide local news content with journalistic values and integrity.
Thank you.
:
I am aware of the motion.
To date, there have been few witnesses from the anglophone community, but they are the witnesses we have before us today. You are well aware that the votes have us tied up, and that it will be difficult to hear from these witnesses and ask them questions.
I understand what you're saying. On Wednesday, will be giving her technical briefing. That presents a problem for me, however, especially since I wanted to speak with Mr. Guzmas, who spent the last month preparing to meet with us. Quite frankly, this is a problem for me. It is not that I do not want to debate the motion, but we are in the middle of questioning witnesses who are telling us about issues affecting them. Can we not, at the very least, hear what they have to say?
The action plan will be tabled this week. I think that we can wait another week before dealing with this motion.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here today.
I want you to know that it is by no means for lack of manners that we are taking up this valuable time. I know that you come well prepared, and we want to take all the time available to us to listen to you.
That said, the associations that represent you have also warned that urgent action is needed. You indicated that a number of newspapers closed down. We therefore want to take action before other newspapers and radio stations meet the same fate.
Moreover, we have been told that despite the release of the action plan this week, there will be no injection of the funding needed in the short term. This money will become available only in 6 or even 9 to 12 months. It is our understanding that your budget cycle is drawing to a close late this month, and that you need swift and concrete action now.
This is not rocket science. So many millions of dollars are handed over to Facebook and Google. Can we not take some of that money and give it to official language minority community newspapers and radio stations? That, I believe, is what the motion states, and that is why I support it.
We are sorry to be taking up some of the time allotted to you, as what you have to say needs to be heard. Notwithstanding that, the motion must be the first order of business, in my opinion.
Please forgive me for being late. The printing presses are running today at our small newspaper.
My sister and I own three newspapers. I am 43. We are young businesswomen. Our newspapers are distributed in the Outaouais region.
[English]
We have the Pontiac Journal; the West Quebec Post, which was established in 1896; and the Bulletin d'Aylmer.
We serve a community that's both rural and urban in minority language situations. We have readerships who live in English, residing in Quebec. We send reporters to French events, cover them, and we publish the news in English so that residents who live in Quebec but don't understand French well have the news. They know what bylaws are being changed.
In my newsroom, we're facing an increasingly diminished ability to do research journalism and cover city council, municipal council, and regional council, let alone any other news that comes our way. Increasingly we're doing—us, as owners—extra time, overtime, before work and after work. We're writing and reporting because we can't afford to staff our newsrooms.
I'm aware that you have the brief that was submitted to the minister in October. The action plans detailed in that brief are at the core of what we do, and any actions that are taken to support those action plans will make a difference to English speakers in Quebec living in a minority-language situation. I understand that everyone has that at the core of why we're here today.
I really thank you, and I'm open to any questions you have.
People often say that we talk a lot in committees but that we don't act. Last week, I moved a motion to ask the government or Canadian Heritage to create a $2-million emergency fund for all minority official language newspapers, which you represent here today. And I thank you for being here today.
We refer to this as “a measure”. The government has a $50-million fund to ensure the survival of our organizations in the medium and long term. There is a problem related to the creation of that fund, however. Any normal government has to go through all existing processes to implement its policies and to ensure that the various stakeholders are treated fairly. That being the case, we will have to wait at least six to nine months before the money from that fund becomes available. It is a completely normal political and governmental reality. We are not complaining about it. It's quite the opposite; we understand the process.
Like Ms. Lapointe, I would like to be able to continue putting questions to you. Last week, we had the opportunity of hearing representatives from the associations that represent you. They let us know clearly that you, the members of those associations, were in agony and on the verge of closing, and that in September or November, it would be too late.
What we are proposing in our motion is quite simple. We are asking that the Liberal members support this request, despite the fact that tomorrow or next week...
:
Wednesday, the new Action Plan for Official Languages will be introduced. That's perfect, and I have no problem with that. has already announced an additional sum of $400 million. There are probably measures that will affect you. We hope so and that is our wish.
Concretely speaking, however, that money will not be available for six to nine months. We are simply asking the government and the committee to agree to the creation of a $2-million emergency fund. My colleague, Mr. Choquette, said earlier that the government had already planned to allocate certain amounts to advertising. Let the government immediately take $2 million out of the Budget 2018 advertising budget, which it tabled and which will come into effect in one week precisely, on April 1. The math is quite simple.
Mr. Guzmas, I don't know if you are an accountant, but if you aren't an editor, you are an insurance specialist. You know figures well because you were very eloquent on this topic.
We will go back to that later, and I hope that we will vote in the near future.
I am saying all of this to explain that it would be very easy for the government to create this emergency fund very quickly. We have to move forward and it's just that simple.
This concludes my intervention.
The vote having been held, I see that the votes are tied. I am going to refer to Speaker Regan's decision. You will remember that a few months ago the same thing happened in the House of Commons. There were equal yeas and nays and Speaker Regan had to decide.
With regard to continuing the debate, I want to say that we have not yet heard everyone. There are still people who want to give us their points of view. We are members of Parliament and it is important that we all get a chance to express our views and have them heard.
I am going to vote in favour of adjourning the debate so that we can come back to it and hear those who have not yet spoken on this.
(Motion agreed to: yeas, 5, nays, 4)
The Chair: Let's get back to our business.
When I say that the debate on this topic is adjourned, it does not mean it is ended; it has been adjourned. When we get back to it, we will be able to hear those who have not spoken yet.
Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.
:
Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.
I'm sure you have a big staff that's been looking at how they're going to help us, but whatever they do, I think it should be based on content, real content, local content, and not content that people buy from Reuters, The Canadian Press, and stuff like that.
First of all, we've been saying that Treasury Board and Public Works have, in a way, forgotten about us for years and years. I told you the numbers. In 2002 we had $350,000 in advertising, and now, for this fiscal year finishing in a couple of days, it's only $15,000. Somebody somewhere in Public Works or Treasury Board just put an X on anything that has to do with English papers in Quebec or French papers outside Quebec. This has to change. This is political will that has to change, because we haven't seen any political will for years and years.
We are the victims of the Gomery commission, because every year we were getting a part of the advertising budget, and then the first thing they cut after the Gomery commission was advertising in the local newspapers, whether it was English papers in Quebec or French papers outside Quebec. That's what they did, and you can check that with your agency of record, Cossette. You could check it out with Treasury Board and Public Works.
:
I apologize, Mr. Choquette, but I have to interrupt you. We are going to have to go and vote.
I want to thank our three witnesses Ms. Ryan, Mr. Guzmas and Ms. McCully.
[English]
Thank you very much for your presence today.
[Translation]
You help us gain a better understanding of the situation of official language newspapers in minority communities.
[English]
It's very important that we do our best to keep you alive and keep you living well.
[Translation]
You can be certain that all of the members of this committee are here to give you a hand up. I thank you for having travelled to come to meet with us.
I want to repeat to the members of the committee that we will not be having a meeting next Wednesday, so that you can be present at 's presentation of the Action Plan for Official Languages. Afterwards, we will be in our ridings for two weeks. Madam Clerk and I are going to work on a schedule for the rest of our work, and we will submit it to you when you return. My thanks to all of you.
The meeting is adjourned.