Mr. Chair, as a member of Parliament and as a member of the arts community, I do not think this amendment is in the scope of the bill, because the Broadcasting Act is not focused on the CBC. We're talking about web giants contributing their fair share. I'm concerned about this motion's intent to have recourse to actually attack the CBC.
In my riding, constituents care deeply about the CBC. We're proud of the work it does and the stories it tells. This issue came up in my riding in 2017 when a Conservative MP at the time voted to defund the CBC, so this amendment is worrisome, in my view.
CBC is an independent Crown agency. It has a board. It has an ombudsperson. It reports to Parliament. It has a demonstrative process to ensure that it follows its mandate. Adding CRTC as a watchdog to the CBC, which already licenses them, is not necessary in my opinion. The CRTC already goes through a wholesome process to provide the CBC and Radio-Canada with its licence to operate.
For the reasons above, I do not believe that it's up to the CRTC to decide what the CBC's mandate is. I submit that for discussion.