Madam Chair, through you to Ms. Blaney, that is a critical question.
To be honest, I don't have the expertise. I've obviously read the debates commission's report. I've had conversations with the previous commissioner, Mr. Johnston. I think that gets to the crux of the issue.
That was the challenge: Under whose authority is the choice of the moderator and in whose hands does that rest? How is the public interest of a debate balanced against the journalistic...? I may not be using the exact, precise words. I don't pretend to be an expert myself in this space. However, as I remember those conversations, there's the obvious importance of respecting journalistic integrity and independence, and the commission's independent role in selecting a moderator who would act in the public interest.
Those two issues clearly overlap, certainly in my mind, in a number of areas, but there are probably important distinctions between the two. I wouldn't hazard before this committee to improvise an answer.
However, I think in my recommendation to cabinet on a potential successor to Mr. Johnston as the debates commissioner, in terms of this person's ability to triage that very question and arrive at an answer that doesn't land in the unfortunate circumstance that we discussed with your colleague previously, Madam Gaudreau, I would want to be assured myself and be able to assure my colleagues that we have found an answer, not to the specifics of that question but to a process that will give the correct answer.