Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was interested by your suggestion that what we're dealing with right now in terms of the future of our television industry is a house of cards in crisis. I would broaden the suggestion to say we're dealing with a legitimization of the entire broadcast and regulatory framework when you have the kind of public spectacle being played out by both Vidéotron and Shaw.
I'd like to speak about this in terms of the fact that we're two months into this crisis. It took public hearings to finally get the minister to stand up and say she'd send a letter.
Meanwhile, we've had very public attacks by both companies--attacks on the CBC, attacks on Canadian programming, and attacks on your work as writers, directors, and producers across Canada, so that people don't even want to watch these shows. We've had attacks on the accountability of the fund, and we've had threats of lawsuits against Radio-Canada executives who spoke up in defence of this fund.
The message I heard from the players in industry when they met with the minister was that she told them to sit on the sidelines, say nothing, and keep out of the press. Meanwhile, the other side launched this continued attack on the legitimacy of the whole television fund.
I'd like to ask you this. In terms of the damage that's been done to the confidence of our television industry right now, what will it take in order to ensure the financing deals that are going up in smoke right now will go through domestically and through international television deals?