Broadcasting - Commission Letter addressed to Various Parties
Ottawa, le 15 April 2021
Marie-Christine Morin
Director General
Fédération culturelle canadienne-française
mcmorin@fccf.ca
Alain Dupuis
Director General
Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
dg@fcfa.ca
Re: Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2019-379 – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada licence renewal proceeding – Procedural request by the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
This letter is in reference to the procedural request filed jointly on 12 February 2021 by the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA) (hereafter referred to collectively as the FCCF-FCFA) regarding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC) licence renewal proceeding announced in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2019-379.
In your procedural request, you requested that the Commission direct the CBC/SRC to file additional information regarding the Mandate and Vision Perception Survey (perception survey).) Footnote1 More specifically, you requested that the CBC/SRC place on the public record certain raw data that, according to you, do not form part of the information already provided by the CBC/SRC. In addition, you requested that the CBC/SRC place on the public record a copy of the “Léger Survey” cited in the perception survey. Finally, you requested that the deadline for interveners to submit their final comments be extended to a date the Commission deems appropriate.
Application and correspondence
During the oral phase of the hearing, the Commission requested that the CBC/SRC commit to provide a copy of the latest perception survey. On 18 January 2021, the Commission received a copy of the May 2020 perception survey; on 26 February 2021, the CBC/SRC submitted a copy of the most recent perception survey, carried out in fall 2020.
On 17 February 2021, in response to the FCCF-FCFA’s procedural request, the CBC/SRC stated that the filed perception survey included the data and information you had requested. In a letter dated 18 February 2021, you submitted that the CBC/SRC had still not fulfilled the commitment it had made during its appearance at the hearing.
The CBC/SRC indicated that it would be impossible for it to provide the requested “Léger Survey” as such a survey did not exist. It explained that the data had been processed and weighted by the survey firm, and then sent to CBC/SRC’s institutional research group, which then generated the survey report. On 19 February 2021, the CBC/SRC filed additional correspondence, in which it requested that the Commission deny the FCCF-FCFA’s procedural request.
Commission’s analysis and conclusions
As previously noted, the Commission received a copy of the May 2020 survey as well as a copy of the most recent survey conducted in fall 2020. Although the FCCF-FCFA is of the view that the submitted survey is in fact a report that references the survey and not the actual survey, the Commission notes that at no time did the panel members request raw data when the CBC/SRC made its commitment. The Commission is of the view that the CBC/SRC has fulfilled the commitment made at the hearing.
In regard to the “Léger Survey,” the Commission notes that each year the CBC/SRC is required to file with the Commission the details of the results of the perception survey administered to official linguistic minority communities (OLMC) regarding their television and radio services, as required by the conditions of licence set out in specific appendices of Broadcasting Decision 2013-263. These results are published on the Commission’s Annual Reports page.) Footnote2 Under these circumstances, the Commission finds that the addition of this survey to the public record would not help to determine whether the CBC/SRC has been meeting its requirements relating to OLMCs.
In the Commission’s view, the CBC/SRC met the commitment it made during the oral phase of the hearing. In light of this, and for the reasons noted above, the Commission denies the requests by the FCCF-FCFA relating to the addition of information to the public record. Consequently, the Commission also denies the request to extend the deadline for the submission of comments.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Claude Doucet
Secretary General
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