Mr. Speaker, I will correct the record. The hon. member for Waterloo gave me the privilege and distinction of representing the good people of Waterloo; that is her job, and she does an excellent job of it. I am pleased to represent the good people of Kings—Hants.
We are in an environment right now where there has been a decline of local journalism and where foreign state governments are trying to sow discontent in democracies by driving misinformation online. Increasingly, we do not have access to trusted journalism. Our public broadcaster is extremely important for providing that information. The Conservatives are planning to cut our public broadcaster in this country at a time when rural and regional Canada need it even more.
Many of the members of Parliament on the opposition benches have constituents in areas where there would be very little to no local media at all. It is extremely important to maintain that public broadcaster; it is also important to focus on reform. Let us not suggest that the CBC has been perfect. I think now is a great opportunity to focus on how we reform our public broadcaster to meet the needs all across the country, including re-engaging communities very strongly in western Canada, where the presence is not what it needs to be. However, it does not help when the opposition party continues to denigrate our public broadcaster.