Yes, sir.
First, on the recommendation of Minister Oda, there's an end-of-quotation mark before you get to the patronage part. The comment about patronage is one we brought to the table. In the best practice of western democracy public broadcasting, it is not effectively the prime minister, the cabinet, or an order in council that appoints the senior leadership of the public broadcaster; in common with private sector corporation practice, a board of directors hires and fires the chief executive officer. That process should be brought to bear in Canada. That is our opinion; it was also the unanimous opinion, if I recall, of the Lincoln committee in 2003.
Then, of course, arises the question of how the board of directors gets there. There have been recommendations in public policy--again, the Lincoln report--that nominations for the board of directors of something as important as the Canada Council or the CBC should come from a variety of sectors and represent a variety of perspectives and experiences. The best and the brightest people should be running billion-dollar corporations. That is not a fiscal measure, but it would increase public confidence--and probably governmental confidence--in the management of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.