Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Minister. It's the first time we've had the opportunity to interact. I'm new on the committee.
I did want to go back to a question my colleague Madame Lavallée started. The Friends of CBC Peterborough were to come today but have been rescheduled due to time issues. And of course they were galvanized into action. I won't harp on this, but it was because of a comment the parliamentary secretary made that perhaps the government should reconsider being in the broadcasting business and should perhaps exit that business. So of course they were motivated and went into action, and they sent the Prime Minister 6,000 postcards, protesting. They were galvanized because of this, and they are very concerned—and I quote from a letter from them—that there is a suspicion, probably because of the sentiments of the parliamentary secretary, that the CBC may be “crimped, cut, and underfunded and become a shadow of its former self”. I wonder if you could speak to that?