Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, it's funny. I sit as a parliamentary secretary in the department. Mr. Angus keeps using the term “we know”. I actually don't know any of those things he's alleging about the Prime Minister's Office being somehow involved. He knows how many applications there were, apparently, and who the qualified people were and who they weren't. I don't know any of those things, because they're actually protected. We don't put those things out in the public. I suppose it's for personal privacy and for the protection of that privacy.
First of all, I don't think Mr. Pentefountas would be afraid to appear before this committee. I'm not quite sure what role it plays in his appearance here. But if that were the will of the opposition members, I'm pretty sure he would attend.
Now with respect to a broader witch hunt with respect to how various appointments are made, what processes are followed, or why an NDP member didn't get the position, I'm not quite sure it serves a purpose over the longer term. In fact, I think it sullies the entire appointments process. It also makes it very difficult for the government, in the future, to find qualified applicants to actually put their names forward. They know, in putting their names forward, that they could be subject to a kangaroo court before Parliament and find their names in the newspapers in a fashion they never thought they would be.
Some people run for political office and some people do not. Those who do not, many times, don't want to be in a political process. But they could find themselves in that position if all of the appointment processes we start to undertake become a process whereby you need to expect that you're going to be hauled before Parliament and embarrassed.
Please don't cut me off yet at this point, Mr. Chair. I'm just closing off my comments.
Mr. Chairman, for people who aren't aware of the CRTC process, this vice-chair was a vice-chair from Quebec. It had to be. We therefore accepted applications only from Quebec. At the same time, everyone knows, because we've made this commitment, that the next chairperson of the CRTC will be from Quebec. And that is coming up in less than a year.
I would argue that if this becomes a bit of a dog-and-pony show, we could very well hurt our opportunity to attract good applicants from Quebec for that chairperson position if they are afraid that they're going to be subjected to a kangaroo court of Parliament. I'd encourage members to consider that.