Thank you, Chair.
First off, about my motion a few months ago, I am very disappointed that Rogers is not in front of us. It was 11 months ago that Rogers committed $26 billion to buy the Shaw empire. They spent five days at CRTC hearings in November. I asked for Shaw and Rogers to come to committee. They're not here.
Twenty minutes ago, we just received notice that Bell wants to come to our committee to talk about this massive sale worth $26 billion in this country.
Alex Freedman, you stole my line, because we're very concerned in western Canada about Global Television. Stations like those in Lethbridge, Kelowna, Saskatoon and Regina, plus in Ontario in Kingston and Peterborough, and in the Maritimes, Saint John and Halifax, could be gone overnight, with their newsrooms, if this sale is approved by the CRTC. We also need the CRTC to come to this committee before they approve or disapprove the sale of Rogers and Shaw.
I'm going to start with you first, Ms. Edwards.
You made a number of allegations, and you were totally correct. The news media, the cable giants, have decimated community television. We used to have a pretty good community television station in Saskatoon. It's gone dark, like you mentioned has happened in Vancouver and other places. There's nothing to fill this gap. I am concerned that communities in this country will not get the local news that we have enjoyed over the last 10 or 15 years.
I want to get your further comment on the situation with this takeover.