That's very kind. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all three of you for your championship of this bill and for bringing it to us. It's a very important subject.
Senator Carignan, you said it very well, that the profession of journalism is a pillar of our democracy. It's an institution that very much falls into the fabric of Canada's democracy, and yet there are challenges. It's a complex subject. It's as much about the bill that's before us today as it is about the financial aspects of the profession, the financial challenges, the structural changes, and the employment relationship that journalists face today. The media environment is transforming, with so much information now making its way through social media to us.
I also want to put it to you that there is a prospect of people using the vehicle of journalism to do us harm. I sit on the defence committee, in addition to this one, and the whole paradigm of fake news and intentional misleading through journalistic channels is something we need to take very seriously. I want to echo my colleague Pam Damoff's concerns that we do not have representatives from the police forces in front of us this afternoon, even though we have a written brief.
The subject matter is complex. In addition to having the aspiration of being expedient with this bill, the committee also needs to be mindful of the various facets and aspects of this important piece of legislation.
Senator Pratte, I would like to ask you to give to the committee, and also Canadians, your snapshot of the state of the profession as it exists in 2017, and how you see it evolving over a short-term horizon, say, the next five years. What is journalism all about these days? What does the committee need to be mindful of when we talk about a bill such as this one, even though this might be only the first step, as my colleague just pointed out?