Thank you, Madam Chair.
In case folks around the table wonder about PV, back in the day, when I first started presenting amendments, they didn't want to use “G” for Green because it would have been confused with “Government”, which some day will be the case—you'll have a Green government and there won't be any confusion. However, for now, PV is Parti vert, and I am presenting very succinctly this amendment, which would create new language on page 6, just after line 22.
It comes from evidence that the committee has heard, largely from the community radio, community broadcasting group. I won't read it all out, but they wanted, and this amendment creates, the opportunity for a divergence of opinion and views to be heard on matters of public concern, and specifically—and this is language that I think is so good—“to directly participate in public dialogue on those matters through the community element; and...”
The amendment would inject the notion that our public broadcasters and our community broadcasters and the whole Broadcasting Act would create opportunities for respectful dialogue and to expose people to different views and also create for them not just an observational experience but a participatory experience, to participate directly in public dialogue.
I think if we had this kind of thing, we wouldn't see such low voter turnout, if people were able to engage.
That's my submission. I hope this amendment will find favour with committee members. Thank you.
