Astral CEO touts benefits of a strong, innovative cultural industry in Quebec

On the 40th anniversary of Astral Media, president and chief executive officer Ian Greenberg said one essential element of the pure play media company’s brand was its commitment to Montreal and Quebec. The company has 1,400 employees, 800 of them based in Montreal. Speaking March 19 before the Montreal Board of Trade, he called for continued government support, buoyed by more efforts at educating a skilled workforce, to keep the Quebec industry thriving. Below is an edited excerpt of his speech. The key to our success has been developing an unbeatable value proposition: Delivering relevant media. Delivering relevant media is an undertaking to provide quality and appealing content for targeted audiences, and to develop strong relationships and powerful brands... Again, we will stick to something we know well and use our distinct Canadian broadcasting system as an example. It has been essential in building the Canadian cultural framework, as we know it today. The long-standing policy of government to support a distinct Canadian broadcasting system, to protect our culture and to allocate the necessary financial and regulatory resources has ensured that we today have a Canadian culture to call our own and even more here in Quebec where culture is much needed to support its linguistic roots. If our images and voices cannot be seen and heard in Canada how can we define and protect this very own culture of ours and exist as a nation? We must continue to provide resources to produce and distribute local quality content for Canadian radio and television stations. The need has been particularly pronounced on the French-language side of programming. We are proud that Quebec has been able to develop its own star system with celebrities from here attracting higher ratings than the most prestigious programming from the United States and the world over. However, we should step up our efforts to produce Quebecois French-language programming that can tackle competition from American and European content and continue to corner the market of francophone listening and viewing audiences in Quebec. The only way for us to succeed in our efforts is to create an even more effective, quality offering that stands out from the crowd. ...When our culture flourishes, we all draw tremendous benefits. But so does business. In fact, it is clear that the establishment of our cultural industries has helped to create an environment where we, as well as many other companies, have thrived here in Montreal.But supporting these industries, in turn, is an ongoing process, and any commitment we make must be renewed – over and over again. There is a clear and present need to sustain these industries. It starts with education. We must do a better job of helping students who do not want to follow traditional academic studies, find alternatives for learning. We must nurture them and do what we can to provide opportunities when they enter the job market. In particular, it would be nice to see educational institutions such as CEGEPs and universities develop programs better tailored to the needs of all of our cultural industries, where students could better choose courses that meet their professional expectations. MusiquePlus and the whole Radio Énergie network alone would not be where they are today without their bright and creative young employees. A concept that, as business people, members of this audience will understand better than anyone: we must approach these industries with the same acumen, ingenuity and energy that we use to grow our own companies. We must continue to nurture, develop and invest in these cultural industries. We all know what happens to a company that neglects its responsibility to innovate, draw new talent, allocate capital spending, and invest in new opportunities: it loses market share, loses people, and eventually loses direction. Montrealers are reaping numerous socio-economic advantages from their cultural industries. That is why we must rally to support these industries and the creators that run them, because they enrich not only the city of Montreal, but also our citizens and the rest of the world.

Astral CEO touts benefits of a strong, innovative cultural industry in Quebec

News | 03/28/2002 5:00 am EST

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