Right now, the CBC continues to put out statements and come to these committees saying, “We might have a bit of a problem, but overall we're not biased.” That's gaslighting Canadians. Canadians can see that this is an issue.
Folks have accused me of coming here as a cheerleader for the Conservatives. I am not a cheerleader for the Conservatives. I'm sorry. I'm not a cheerleader for the Liberals, either. I was trying to do my job as a journalist, and part of that was being balanced. When I was pulled into disciplinary meetings, I was told that I was editorializing because I put out that Catherine Tait wouldn't come on the program and that this was unfortunate. “This is unfortunate” was editorializing and perceived bias.
There's a lot of perceived bias going on that I don't see any discipline around. I think CBC needs a wake-up call in terms of accountability. Really, that's incumbent upon this committee. I have made recommendations. There are 11 recommendations on how to move some of this forward.
When it comes to Mr. Cochrane, during the convoy, for example, we were talking about Tamara Lich, an individual involved in the convoy. We were doing a story around that. Offhand remarks can be made at times, and I said that I thought she had a couple of last names. “People who live in trailers usually do.” That's an off-colour remark.
If this is a pattern, if the staff on your own show are raising it and if people are leaving the program, you have to look a bit deeper into it, as opposed to pulling me off the air for saying that it's unfortunate the president didn't come on the show.