Thank you, Chair.
I will start with a comment on the issue of freedom of the press, and then, Ms. Harth, I'd welcome your response to that.
I think freedom of the press is very important. There are a few points, though, in the context of this bill. One is that freedom of the press doesn't oblige that everybody gets a public broadcasting licence. There are certain rules around public broadcasting licences. You can still get RT in Canada. You can get it online. I'm not promoting it. I don't think you should watch it, but it is available online, and CGTN would still be available online if the broadcast licence were removed.
Another way of responding to this is to say that they're not the press. I mean, you can get a lot of information on conservative.ca. That's a website for a political party, but it's not a media outlet, and neither are organizations that exist specifically to propagate the views of foreign political parties.
Also, then, that's just to say that, when these so-called media organizations that are not media organizations are directly involved in violating human rights themselves, they clearly would lose the good name of alleged association with the press. Just in general, the idea of freedom of speech and freedom of expression do not include the rights of foreign authoritarian governments to propagate their messages in our domestic context, especially with the privilege of a broadcasting licence.
I think there are some very clear distinctions between what real journalists do and what these human rights-abusing foreign propaganda outlets are involved in. There's no reason for them to have the benefit of having a broadcasting licence.
Ms. Harth, I'd welcome your reaction to those reflections, please.