Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I just want to go back to what this is all about. It's about the evolution of the television industry in Canada and its impact on local communities. I think the big question here is, and has always been, that local communities are no longer having access to programming. I don't know if Mr. Morrison remembers that I did ask the minister that the last time, using Kamloops as an example, which is not a tiny community at all. I think the minister basically didn't answer my question. I think he just flubbed it off, saying that if Kamloops cannot get broadcasting, Kamloops has a problem, and that's the end of it.
The question here about local communities, which was well said, is that local communities need to get local news. However, when we talk about CBC in this issue, CBC has a direct mandate to be able to represent regions of Canada to each other. The mandate of CBC to get into small communities is also as pertinent as small local programming, local television stations, radio stations. So we agree that CBC has a huge role to play in meeting the needs of local communities.
Now, we've also heard from everyone that CBC is in dire need of funding because its transmitters are going down, its ability to broadcast in small communities is being affected. Therefore, as you well know—and I think I definitely remember Mr. Morrison being at our CBC review—when we were looking at CBC, we spent a long time, and we came up with a very good report that suggested CBC was in need of more funding, as Mr. Morrison said.
The bottom line here is this. If CBC is in need of more—not less, not status quo—funding, and if CBC doesn't get that funding, does any one of you have an idea what will happen with regard to local programming that comes from a national level, that represents region to region, so that small regions can understand each other? Can anybody tell me what would happen if we leave CBC at the status quo?