Jean Pierre Blais at the public hearing on the renewal of television licences held by large French-language ownership groups

Laval, Quebec
November 22, 2016

Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission

Check against delivery

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this public hearing. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting here today on the traditional lands of the First Nations. I would like to thank them and pay respect to their elders.

Renewal of television licences

This hearing is taking place in the context of the renewal of the television licences held by large French-language ownership groups, namely, Bell, Corus, Québecor and Groupe V.

By means of these renewals, the Commission plans to put into effect certain policy decisions, including those set out in Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians and those related to local and community television. The CRTC will also be studying the application of the group approach for French-language ownership groups.

In the coming days, we will be discussing a number of issues with all the applicants and stakeholders, in particular those issues set out in the working document released on November 2, 2016. Lastly, we will be studying each group’s specific proposal and the possibility of imposing the new standard conditions of licence, which were also published on November 2, 2016.

Procedure

I would like to make a few introductions before we begin.

The panel for this hearing consists of:

• Judith A. LaRocque, Vice-Chair, Broadcasting;
• Yves Dupras, Regional Commissioner for Quebec;
• And myself, Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman of the CRTC. I will be presiding over this hearing.

The Commission team assisting us includes:

• Julie St-Pierre and Pierre-Marc Perreault, Hearing Managers
• Rachelle Frenette, Legal Counsel
• Philippe Nadeau, Economic Advisor
• Lynda Roy, Hearing Secretary

I would now like to invite Ms. Roy to explain the procedure we will be following.

Madam Secretary . . .

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