I would like to go back to what Mr. Nantel was saying about the sale of the Radio-Canada tower.
According to what I understand, as we speak or in the next few days, if this has not been done already, the consortium's proposal will be presented. There is only one consortium involved now, and this is worrying, because it undermines the competition element that could lead to an interesting purchase offer for the tower, both from the perspective of the consortium or from the perspective of Radio-Canada, regarding the sale.
CBC/Radio-Canada has to evaluate the consortium's offer, but this may take all summer. Afterwards, if the offer is accepted, Radio-Canada will negotiate with the City of Montreal to firm up approval of the project, and this could take us to the winter of 2017. A lot of energy is being poured into this.
What is being said at Radio-Canada and elsewhere is that it would be more rational to obtain prior authorization from Treasury Board and the Minister of Canadian Heritage. In other words, once Radio-Canada has done its assessment and determined whether it likes things or not, the government would immediately give its opinion and say whether it agrees with that evaluation. This is not interference, since in the final analysis you will have have to give an opinion because this is an expenditure of over $4 million. This would be a very rational way of doing things, to avoid having the City of Montreal and Radio-Canada spend close to two years negotiating something that may not receive government approval. I think this needs to be determined right from the beginning.
Do you think, as I do, that it would be preferable that your government provide prior authorization in the fall before the City of Montreal and Radio-Canada undertake these negotiations?