Thank you, Chair.
I'm glad to see my Conservative colleagues take this study so seriously, and I sincerely hope that there isn't an attempt to shut it down or limit it, as our first witnesses have already highlighted pretty significant areas of concern. I think it's imperative that this committee do this work. I'd be quite disappointed after that line of questioning to see any sort of limitations of looking into this study coming from Conservatives, or any attempts to not continue with this study when this is our first day. I guess we'll see. I guess we'll see if there's action behind the words we just heard.
Moving to my questions, I found—and this is going to be directed at both organizations—that as a local MP I could honestly feel a shift and a difference in the narrative around the public perception of the invasion of Ukraine. For example, I remember in the early days attending vigils in my community in Uxbridge, which has a large Ukrainian population, and how quickly on social media that support for Ukraine started to erode. Even in our first debates on the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, it was pretty uneventful. There seemed to be all-party support. Then you started to see things shift.
A large part of that was changes in the narrative online, on social media accounts. When this came forward with regard to influencers being potentially and allegedly paid by Russia to look like and mimic Canadian organizations or Canadian social media pages, you started to put two and two together. I could very clearly see that shift, as just a local MP, with Ukrainians in my riding as one example, but overall I was hearing people start to defend Russia, or seeing Russian flags on the Hill and protests against anything really....
My first question is—and I'd like both of your perspectives on this—do you believe that for those with influencer accounts that were being funded, or allegedly being funded, by Russia, they really didn't know who was paying, or is there a world in which people wouldn't know that Russia is sending propaganda?
On the comment about if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, if you're repeating Russian propaganda and then claim you had no idea you were being paid by, or repeating, Russian propaganda.... Have you seen other examples of this claim, where they had no idea who was footing the bill? Maybe I'll start here, if you don't mind.