I find Ms. Thomas's remarks very interesting.
I want to explain what the initial nature of the motion was. I don't think that the government should undertake this study or that it's up to parliamentarians to do so. However, I do think that someone somewhere should send a signal that this study is essential. That's basically the spirit of the initial motion. The idea is to say that a process of reflection should be established, a forum created and a national forum held on the state of the news sector.
I actually assumed that, once the committee had completed its assessment, we would entrust the industry people with the task of conducting their own national forum and that we would obviously provide a framework, not a framework for discussion or a direction, but the necessary wherewithal to conduct that study, independently; which goes without saying.
Whatever the case may be, I think it's up to the industry people to consider the matter, conduct that self-assessment and determine the attendant challenges. I think the industry people know they need to identify the means that should be used to address present and future challenges.
In that sense, I think that Mr. Noormohamed's amendment is helpful. It goes one step further, as it were, in the thinking I wanted us to do together. I ultimately think the way to go is to say that it's the industry people who should frame the issue, hold meetings and conduct the self-assessment. I have no objection to adding a little more clarification, but I think these are things that we can do when we assess whether it's appropriate to hold a national forum, which will constitute the mandate that the committee adopts for the brief study we'll be conducting pursuant to my motion.
That's why I think this amendment is entirely acceptable. If we want to proceed this way, we can do so quickly. We'll have time during the four meetings planned for this brief study to determine, as Ms. Thomas noted, how the industry people can organize and hold the national forum with the support they may possibly need from the government and parliamentarians. If they can do so independently, then so much the better.