I should say that I'm here with the chair of the board of directors of CBC/Radio-Canada, Michael Goldbloom, who will be joining me in opening remarks.
Madam Chair, members of the committee, we are honoured to represent Canada's public broadcaster, an organization that Canadians depend upon to celebrate Canadian culture, and to ensure access to reliable and accurate news and information.
I would also remind the committee that CBC/Radio-Canada operates at arm's length from government, not just in its editorial decisions but also in its financial and operational decisions. This independence is critical to the trust that Canadians place in us.
We welcome discussions about public broadcasting and we believe such discussions should be based on facts. The document we have shared with you sets out the facts about compensation at CBC/Radio-Canada. We hope these facts can help guide our conversation today.
We would like to use our time to talk about the challenges facing the media industry in Canada and why a strong public broadcaster is more important than ever.