I agree with Mr. Christopherson's motion. It makes perfect sense. This type of entity ought to have been established by legislation. That would have been the appropriate thing to have done. It would have gone through the legislative process, through Parliament. It would have given us the opportunity to have a meaningful debate on how this entity ought to function. As a committee, we did an extensive report. We didn't agree on all the points. We provided a supplementary opinion from the Conservative opposition but our biggest concern from the start was very much what's happened here, that the government would act unilaterally. That was the concern of the Conservative Party, and that's exactly what came to fruition.
Barring the fact that I don't see the government being eager to table legislation to implement this program, I think Mr. Christopherson makes a good point. Let's work as a committee and review what's been proposed, review the order in council and the appointments, and bring in the proposed appointee to discuss. We had an opportunity to discuss his qualifications with him but his qualifications did not allow us to talk about his proposals for the entity.
Rightfully you, Mr. Chair, kept us from going in that direction as is the right of this committee and outside the scope of that presentation, but we have not had the opportunity to discuss with the appointee what his proposals are, what the options are, and who might and ought to be on the seven-person advisory panel, who ought to be the appropriate people there, what mechanisms may be in place to ensure a wide broadcast and wide beyond simply broadcasters. I've mentioned this before in this committee, that individuals in my generation, and your generation as well, Minister—our collective generation—do not turn to the major broadcasters for their news. I saw a poll recently that it's fewer than 50%.
I'm not going to speak any longer, Chair, I just wanted to put it on the record that I think this is an important, worthwhile discussion to have. I think Mr. Christopherson made a perfectly reasonable explanation. If we're not going to have legislation, let's look at this.