My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Last year the government announced a $350-million investment in print media companies, but there are few details available. This program still will not address the challenges facing Canadian journalism, especially in Acadia.

In June, New Brunswick’s Acadie Nouvelle will celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary. The history of print media in New Brunswick is marked by constant struggle and resilience. We cannot allow our newspaper to close its doors as the Évangéline did in 1982. There is no doubt in my mind, Senator Harder, that francophone senators like Senator McIntyre, Senator Poirier, Senator Ringuette and, of course, Senator Cormier understand the important role played by Acadie Nouvelle, which we in New Brunswick like to call “our newspaper.”

This newspaper, which covers the news across New Brunswick, employs 65 people. Acadie Nouvelle is the only daily French-language newspaper east of Quebec, and it has over 60,000 readers and 20,000 subscribers, 30 per cent of whom subscribe to the digital version. It delivers relevant information to our people, New Brunswick’s francophone population. Acadie Nouvelle is an important and indispensable voice for New Brunswick’s francophone and Acadian populations. It is important that the federal government take the time to listen to us and to work with those who have to contend with the many challenges facing print media on a daily basis.

Government Representative, will you make a commitment to New Brunswick’s Acadians that you will make sure that the government appoints an Acadian representative as a member of the committee tasked with examining the future of print media in Canada? Will you draw the federal government’s attention to the need to appoint an Acadian to represent that community’s interests on any projects or in the management office of the new federal program?