Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The first motion reads as follows:
That the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage ask the Minister of Heritage, before committing herself in the review of the CBC-SRC mandate, to comply with the motion that she herself had adopted during the 38th parliament, the last paragraph of which reads: “That the government, when establishing this independent task force, do so under the advisement of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, and that the membership reflect that of this committee;” and that the Chair report this motion to the House of Commons.
My objective in moving this motion was to call to mind the importance of the motion introduced by Ms. Oda during the 38th Parliament, given that we had agreed the mandate of the CBC-SRC was open to debate. The lock-out had just ended and the point had been made that people living in the regions did not have ready access to news and information. We also took this opportunity to discuss programming content, which more closely resembled that of private television networks than that of a public broadcaster. In short, the subject-matter proved very interesting to us.
In light of media reports, we got the impression that it had decided to analyze the facts and question people about the CBC's mandate, leaving our committee to play a minor role in this whole affair. Therefore, I'm pleased to hear Mr. Abbott say that this is not at all the case. Consequently, I urge all members of the committee to support this motion.