Thank you, Mrs. Thomas.
Maybe I will just clarify, because I wonder if there was a bit of a misunderstanding between us earlier. I had thought you were asking about the designation of digital new intermediaries earlier, and so my comments about those thresholds being set through Governor in Council regulation were with respect to digital news intermediaries, i.e., the digital platforms.
With respect to the eligibility of news businesses, the eligibility criteria are set out in clause 27 of the bill itself. There is no Governor in Council regulatory power set out in clause 27. It is a matter of the CRTC applying those eligibility criteria that are set out in the bill to entities that wish to avail themselves of the mandatory bargaining framework at the latter part of the bill.
With respect to your question, my answer would be that there is nothing that obliges a news business to bargain under the framework. Therefore, if a news business does not wish to participate in the framework, it is not under an obligation to do so.
I come back to the fact that the legislative obligation to bargain is placed on the digital news intermediary. There is no such obligation on the part of a news business to participate in the framework.