Thanks very much, Madam Chair.
Thanks to all of our witnesses for coming forward today.
Mr. Kitt, I would like to start with you.
Mr. Waugh took about about a third of his question period for a statement. I would like to preface my questions with a statement coming from the National Post. It's an editorial from this morning that talked about the threats by Meta to withdraw services, similar to what we saw in Australia.
The National Post editorial said, “the Conservative members of the [heritage] committee did a disservice to their constituents, and Canadian democracy as a whole, by giving far too much deference to a company using fear tactics to try to escape its obligations to the media companies it has spent years siphoning revenues from.”
Mr. Kitt, my question for you is, first, how important is it that we push back against these fear tactics? Second, you raised issues around inclusivity, accountability and transparency. The question I would ask on that side is to what extent the bill needs to be improved to ensure this is present—particularly the accountability and transparency—at all levels.