Information & Ethics committee  No. I think it was Mr. Myles who quoted him.

Information & Ethics committee  I referred to Mr. Trudel's remarks?

Information & Ethics committee  I must admit, Mr. Nantel, that we have not thought about this a great deal. There are certain questions which should, in our opinion, be put to the commissioner. It seems that during her last appearance here, the issue of independence was raised and the comments made were somewhat ambiguous.

Information & Ethics committee  The CBC was created by an act of Parliament because Canadians wanted a public broadcaster. Today we believe that a majority of Canadians still want a public broadcaster and they want a robust one able to hold its own in the media marketplace. We can't imagine anyone trying to impose the conditions outlined in Bill C-461 on any other media in Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Marc-Philippe Laurin and I am President of the CBC Branch of the Canadian Media Guild. We represent the people who work for CBC/Radio-Canada across Canada, with the exception of Quebec. I'm joined by guild member, Bob Carty, a long-time CBC radio producer and investigative journalist, who's also a member of the board of Canadian Journalists For Free Expression.

Information & Ethics committee  This is something we've discussed among ourselves, and Karen spoke earlier about having more debate, having a group of folks look into how this could happen. I don't have an answer for you; I wish I did. I think it's part of the problem. It's why we're here today. The confusion around section 68.1 and the clarity, or lack of clarity, is bringing up all these questions.

Information & Ethics committee  It's the system we have in this country. If you want to challenge a decision, you challenge a decision and you go to court. Other departments are availing themselves of that right, the government availed itself of that right, and the CBC is availing itself of that right. I'll let the CBC management and board of directors speak to the specific issue of debating this battle in court, but it's the system we have.

Information & Ethics committee  I'll clarify my answer. Currently, the question in front of the courts is that the CBC is asking...and they've made that decision. It's up to the CBC to explain why they want to go there. When it comes to sensitive information, because of the nature of the public broadcaster and the competitive market it finds itself in, the question is who should have access to it.

Information & Ethics committee  Just to add to Ian’s comment, 65% of our funding comes from federal allocations, 35% comes from the commercial market. A crown corporation, the CBC is a journalistic organization, and you have to talk about the arm's-length relationship it's supposed to have with Parliament. To answer your question—and your question I think at the same time, if I may—I guess it's not about what gets released; it's about who's asking for it.

Information & Ethics committee  Actually, I'm going to let Karen take this one.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know what I can add to that. That pretty well covers it, except to say that—how shall I put this?—when you're in the business of meeting people to cover a story and you're meeting with folks related to that story, you may not want to disclose that information. It's fine for somebody to say, hey, so-and-so went out and I saw them, or I'd like to get their receipts for the last month.

Information & Ethics committee  If I may just wrap up, I think the issue comes down to how we streamline the process so that Canadians have the information about the public broadcaster that should be accessible to them. How do we identify that information and then make it more clear-cut? The CBC has been involved in and open to access to information for, what, two and a half years now?

Information & Ethics committee  It's been four years, sorry. They created a whole department to answer requests because of the influx. Information on executive expenses is posted on the CBC website. The breakdown of how the CBC spends its $1 billion is broken down on the CBC websites—14 services, two official languages—

Information & Ethics committee  Magid.

Information & Ethics committee  Do you want to take that, Karen?