Madam Speaker, it is true that my colleague and I work well together on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. We disagree on a lot of things, but we agree on many others. We both have fondness for the media industry and for quality journalism. That I know.
Regarding the announced cuts, I said in my speech that we found it unacceptable that the cuts were divided equally between CBC and Radio-Canada. The cuts announced in December did not happen that way. That being said, it is no less scandalous, because it means that 600 people throughout the CBC/Radio-Canada network lived for months under the sword of Damocles, not knowing whether their position would be eliminated and they would lose their job. In all, 346 jobs, not 800, were cut. One hundred and forty-one people were let go, and 205 positions were eliminated. That is still way too much. When you announce cuts like that at the same time as you award bonuses, you need to explain yourself to the public.
I repeat that we need to review CBC/Radio-Canada's compensation model. That would be a very useful discussion to have.