Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, it has been pointed out many times by my NDP colleague that Ms. Tait is coming for one hour on Thursday. At this committee meeting, she will be answering questions with regard to her role as the CEO of the CBC, where her contract has been renewed until 2025. Of course, there are many important questions that we have for her when she comes. Many of those have been brought up over the last number of days, and there have been a few attempts to ask for additional time.
There is currently a Bloc motion that has been tabled asking for additional time with the CEO of the CBC, Ms. Tait, and now this is a Conservative motion that is coming forward. I think it is clear that there is a hunger or an appetite to have additional time with Ms. Tait.
Let me briefly outline why it is so important and why I would be requesting the support of my colleagues at this table.
Within the CBC mission and principles that they outline, there are words like “public interest”, “reflect diversity”, “protect our independence”, “act responsibly” and “be accountable”. These types of phrases are used. Further to that, under their principles, it states the following words: accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity.
I want to talk about what is specifically going on right now.
Of course, we have many questions for Ms. Tait having to do with her entire mandate since 2018. Right now, there is a war taking place in Gaza, and the CBC has determined to cover it from one angle. Most recently, they put out a headline that was entirely false in nature, where they readily accepted Hamas as their sole source of information and then released that in an article.
This is an organization, a public broadcaster, that receives $1.4 billion from taxpayers, and they commit to a principle of accuracy. They say, “We seek out the truth in all matters of public interest.” I beg to differ. They took Hamas's word and spread it as if it were fact. There was no second source consulted for this particular article. I would raise issue with this statement. They do not, in fact, seek the truth.
I have very important questions for Ms. Tait, as I am sure many people at this committee do. To expect us to get through all those questions on behalf of Canadians within one hour is simply expecting the impossible. In order to be able to ask the questions that need to be asked and to be able to get to the bottom of some very important issues, we do need the opportunity to have additional time with her.
The request is for three hours. Again, it's to give her the opportunity to speak to not only the false headline that was put out but also to the decision that was made by the CBC to refuse to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization. It has been declared by the Canadian government to be a terrorist organization since 2002—more than 20 years.
Again, Ms. Tait, as the CEO of this organization, a public broadcaster, is the only one who needs to answer for this.
I could go on and on. There are, of course—