I'm going to take advantage of your leniency, Madam Chair.
Madam Minister, once again, I'm going to make an aside. I always wonder what the real motivations of the Conservatives are when they criticize the CBC/Radio-Canada CEO's salary. I find it curious coming from them, because they generally advocate the free market and are aware of market realities in general. It's not that I think Ms. Tait deserves a salary like this or that she was worthy of this position; that's not the issue.
I want to come back to the idea of comparisons. Let's take the case of Australia, since the figures for that country are available. Australia has 27 million people. The CEO of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which is the Australian public broadcaster, earns $820,000 annually in Canadian currency. We can also compare apples to apples, so that our criticisms are as fair and appropriate as possible.
That said, I want to talk to you about something else, Madam Minister.
Discrediting the news media, which are generally mainstream media, is a trend we see in a number of countries, from a certain type of politician. You don't have to go very far to see it. For years, Mr. Trump in the United States has been talking about fake news when he brings up traditional media. That's created a kind of divide between the so-called left-wing and right-wing media, a divide that has actually grown so much that it has probably created a disconnect with respect to the news media in the United States. In my opinion, that's what some proponents of populism and disinformation are trying to do politically. They're trying to discredit journalists who are very thorough and ferret out false information or false narratives.
Madam Minister, what do you think of Pierre Poilievre's approach and the fact that Canadians don't seem to buy into it at all?
You have about a minute left to have fun answering my question.