To be honest, this is becoming a little bit frustrating and challenging, because everyone around this table, as has been mentioned before, is trying to work towards having sort of a non-partisan solution and a base of recommendations. We have someone who just came before you who said the industry is not even in a crisis, and we have talked to Canadians across this country who are losing local programming. All of us know individuals in the industry who have lost jobs, who are in the process of losing jobs. There are stations in Hamilton that don't know if they're even going to have a future.
I'd like to pick up on what Mr. Mayrand said. You had said that, unequivocally, there hadn't been anything stated at the CRTC hearings. I have the transcript right here in front of me, and if I could, I'll just quote a question asked by the chairperson: “So the fee-for-carriage would be in effect to ensure there is local content?” The answer given by Mr. Asper was yes, they were agreed on that. There are many other things in the transcript. When the chairperson came before us, he stated that there wasn't a commitment made. The individuals involved, and the transcript, show that there was a commitment made. There's clearly a discrepancy going on.
So not to belabour the point, but if I could just ask very quickly, do you think this could have been prevented? I mean, the chairman came before us and said that no one saw this coming. It was as a result of the collapse of the auto industry.
I think a lot of people saw this coming for many years. I hope we're not back here 10, 20 years from now with stations in Hamilton closed and thousands of other jobs that have been lost. Do you think this could have been prevented? And what lessons can be learned as a result of this? We have a public inquiry starting with the CRTC next week. Personally, and I think many will agree around this table, it is very late. What other lessons would you provide, or recommendations would you give, to this committee to prevent this--the job losses and the closures--from happening in the future?