LANG Committee Report
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The issue of concern here arose primarily because of the scandal about the sponsorship program. If the Liberal government had been able to manage its budgets effectively, rather than watching "Liberal-friendly" firms getting generous commissions, official-language minority communities, particularly francophones, would not have been faced with the current instability. Nor would they have had to fear that some of their media would disappear for lack of adequate financing.
In February 2004, the Auditor General tabled a report that stated: “From 1997 until 31 March 2003, the Government of Canada spent about $250 million to sponsor 1,987 events. Over $100 million of that was paid to communication agencies as production fees and commissions.” [Paragraph 3.7 of the Auditor General‘s Report on the federal government’s sponsorship program]
The Auditor General has just confirmed the existence of a problem that the Bloc Québécois identified in 2000. The Bloc Québécois electoral platform for 2000 spoke out against cronyism in the sponsorship program. Back in 2000, the Bloc identified the main companies involved in the scandal - Groupe Everest, Groupaction, Lafleur Communication, Polygone, and others.
Instead of taking positive measures that were in line with what Quebecers wanted (such as finding a solution to the tax imbalance), the federal Liberal government chose to conduct a ludicrous visibility-enhancing exercise intended to mollify the people of Quebec.
The Bloc Québécois believes that the sponsorship program had just two objectives: 1) to dictate a sense of belonging to Canada by means of an ongoing visibility campaign; and 2) to give money to friends of the party, who then made donations to the Liberal Party fund.
Although the whole story behind the sponsorship scandal has not yet come out, the Bloc Québécois is convinced that the people have lost all confidence in a Liberal government that promotes propaganda to the detriment of ethics.
Finally, minority community broadcasts and print media are clearly an important vehicle for self-expression. The Bloc Québécois is very concerned about the negative impact that the temporary moratorium on government advertising will have. This troubling development was however caused by the Liberals’ inability to manage the government responsibly. The Bloc Québécois hopes that the government will be able to manage the budgets earmarked for its minority community support programs with much greater rigour by implementing the recommendations made in the report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, and that it will demonstrate transparency by imposing the democratic principle of accountability. This will ensure that minority communities, that are primarily French-speaking, will benefit from ongoing, adequate and predictable funding.
Finally, we must point out once again that the anglophone community in Quebec has access to a wide range of information sources containing government of Canada advertising, but this is not necessarily the case for francophone minority communities. It is important that the government consider this vital fact in its allocation of resources.