Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I had reservations as well. The Guide for Ministers and Secretaries of State provides at page 63 that:
[...] neither the minister nor the minister's staff shall intervene in the day-to-day activities of the corporation.
And on page 9, it states:
A Minister's degree of control and responsibility for a non-departmental body is defined in the Act that establishes that body. While a Minister's relationship with a non-departmental body is at arm's length, the Minister shall provide the organization with general guidance on the government's objectives and expectations.
That has inspired me to write an amendment which I'm going to introduce and which reads as follows:
That the committee should call on the Minister of Heritage to intervene in the scheduled layoffs and closure of the English-language design team at CBC Toronto, and that she should also require that this decision and other significant structural decisions be deferred until the renewed mandate of the CBC is established following the full review that is expected to take place this fall.
I believe that, with this kind of proposal, we could find grounds for agreement, without getting all worked up.