Thank you.
First of all, thank you so much for coming, taking time out of your busy schedules to be here with us.
I wanted to bring together both comments around funding. Indeed, one knows that media get stories wrong, but I will note for the record that, at least in the Ottawa Citizen piece, the comment from Mr. St. Laurent.... He essentially says that the integrity of the exhibit has been maintained and that you stand by your curators. I think that's a very important point to make.
That said, one of the things that concerns us about the planning of Canada's 150th is that the story of Canada, or however this 150th is going to be framed, is balanced, and that pressure is not brought to bear so that the story is skewed one way or the other. The government side has already indicated that corporate sponsorship and corporate involvement at the root level of the planning of Canada 150 is very much part of their plans. We have some significant concerns about that. As you saw in your own exhibition on the oil sector, these things can be very controversial. Then when you put into the mix large financial donations, the power balance around whose story gets told and how really starts to change.
You've stated that the integrity of the museum and also of the exhibition remains intact. But I'd argue—and I'd want you to respond as honestly as you can—that these kinds of interventions by corporate interests in public expressions of who we are as a country begin to.... The ideas around how we keep those interests onside, how we keep that money flowing—because I understand, and you've spoken very clearly to this, these are very serious issues—the funding sources.... But the question really is, do we not have a real concern here that the integrity of Canada's 150th birthday not be compromised by the overwelcoming overtures to corporate Canada to get involved in this at the ground level?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't have any. I'm concerned about the influence the corporate sector can bring to bear on what's a very important event in our history.