Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Unfortunately, I feel bad for my colleague Mark Adler, but I have no faith in his ability to figure out the truth. I must, however, thank him publicly because his questions about Mr. Moffatt's political affiliation provided a key moment that I listened to again. To be honest, it still makes me laugh and that really calms me down.
I am going to introduce my comments with the old adage, once a thief, always a thief. By moving what we can call an intervention boundary of the government and, more specifically, of the Treasury Board into the negotiating realm, the government is clearly establishing a regime or, rather, expanding its territory. It's an additional step that could go much further than simple involvement in negotiating mandates. Keep in mind that our witnesses were very clear on that point and expressed their concerns to us.
There was much discussion about CBC, where we learned that outright interference in programming, as well as journalistic mandates and work were possible.
In light of the type of confusion that can exist in the Senate and in the Prime Minister's office, we've seen mistakes that are extremely troubling. At that point, what's preventing the government from going outside the simple realm of negotiating to get directly involved or clearly overstep the boundaries to meddle in other areas? Unfortunately, the government has never been able to come up with a satisfactory answer to that question.
Thank you kindly, Mr. Chair.