Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have just an observation here, if you don't mind. Whether it's the wacky right or even the wacky left, I would say, as a former journalist for four decades, I have seen...and it's advertising and editorials. I'll give you some examples of this. Where newspapers never took a position, now they are selling the front page of the newspaper on election day, where it will come out with “We support X.” It's actually a party that buys the front page of the newspaper coast to coast, where it never used to be. It was in editorials and advertising where that line was. The line no longer exists. When I was there, advertising could never come into the newsroom. They're in the newsroom every single day now, as we've witnessed in newspapers and editorials.
I want to state my position because I have seen a drastic change, not only in newspapers but in digital and radio and TV, where the editorial now may support one particular party on that day, on the election day, when they're trying to get votes out. Is that where they should go? Well, one paper, let's say the Toronto Star, will support the current government; another paper, the Toronto Sun, will support the opposition.
I just wanted to say that, because we have seen, since 2015, that you can buy the front page of a newspaper, and parties have done that. I can show you examples from 2015 on where the two front pages of the paper are bought by a party.
All I'm saying is that journalistic independence has been eroded, and around this table you should realize it has been eroded, only because, I think, the advertising is now into the editorial departments.
That's all I have to say.