Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank all the witnesses for being here today.
I am very pleased that Ms. St-Onge was able to resume her remarks without any technical difficulties today.
I'm going to start with BCE.
Mr. Daniels, I'm not here to beat up on a corporation. I used to be the general counsel of a multinational before I was elected.
I think Canadians are a bit puzzled. BCE took at least $122 million from the wage subsidy. BCE paid out dividends last year on a quarterly basis, yet Bell Media cut 200 jobs of local journalists in February. As I understand it, some of those cuts were done in quite a heartless way, where people were informed after a public announcement. People were informed during a radio commercial. Of course, those communities that suffered—CJAD, which is the main English-speaking radio station in Montreal, being a prime example—lost local content, regardless of your claim that the television journalists will now substitute.
I question how you asked today—and I understand that—for less regulation with respect to broadcasters, not to give too many powers directly to the CRTC to specifically govern your actions and not to make it more restrictive. How do you reconcile that with how Canadians feel when they see cuts to local journalism right at a time when your company is both paying dividends and accepting subsidies from the federal government?