I now call the meeting to order. Welcome to meeting number 112 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.
It's a hybrid meeting that we're having. As you can well see, we have a lot of people sitting out there in neverland. Most of them have been tested, and they're connected.
I'm going to say the usual housekeeping things.
While the Board of Internal Economy does not mandate that we wear masks, its advisable if you're not well that you consider your colleagues and wear a mask.
To the witnesses, we have a very powerful audio system. If you have any devices near your mics, I will ask you to move them, because they can create feedback that would cause a problem for the interpreters. Similarly, for the rest of us who have them, let's move our devices away from our mics.
Also, you cannot take pictures of the proceedings. The meeting will be online. You can get it later on if you wish, but you shouldn't be taking pictures right now. That's not allowed.
One final thing: Each group is going to get five minutes to present. If you're a member of a group, you can decide who is doing that five minutes. If you are an individual, you have five minutes. I will give you a 30-second shout-out, which means you should wrap up what you're saying because you will get an opportunity later on when you are being asked questions by the members to be able to elaborate and expand on what you didn't get to say in your presentation.
Any questions and comments should be made through the chair.
That's about it, so we will begin.
This is a study on the media. It has been brought forward by our esteemed colleague Monsieur Champoux, and we are at the last meeting today, so we're not going to be able to hear from the people who were not able to attend, but we we hope they are going to send us written presentations so that we can read them as we do our report.
We will begin with John Gormley, lawyer, retired radio talk show host and former Member of Parliament, by video conference. He is appearing as an individual.
Mr. Gormley, the floor is yours for five minutes, please.