Thank you, Chair. I appreciate that.
In the spring, Twitter determined that it would attach a label to public broadcasters, and it did that across the board. The CBC had that done to its profile, so it had a label that said “government-funded” broadcaster attached. When interviewed, the CBC said that this was a threat to journalistic independence.
It is curious to me how announcing that public dollars are being received and are being used by the CBC is somehow a threat to journalistic independence, yet Ms. Tait is contending here today that receiving government money is not a threat to journalistic independence. I'm confused as to which one it is. On the one hand, when Twitter makes it public that government dollars, $1.4 billion, are being received by this organization to put out news, it is all of a sudden a threat to journalistic independence. If a Conservative were to bring that up, then it is not a threat to journalistic independence.
If the CBC was given the opportunity to be truly independent and to be set free from the shackles of government money, would it be okay? Would it continue to provide Canadians with news?