Procedure and House Affairs committee  But we do have criteria for allowing the parties, and I think that's why Radio-Canada has to be.... We haven't talked about the French market, which is very different. We have TVA, which is basically a Quebec-based network, and Radio-Canada, which broadcasts more across the country.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the basic problem we have is that we don't have time to actually negotiate the terms of debate. We are just negotiating to see if there is a debate. If the best way to have a commitment from all parties, before the election is called, to participate in a national debate is through some kind of legal framework—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know. We haven't seen any proposal yet.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I know. It's kind of hard to—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll chime in on the last point. I think in terms of credibility for the public, if there is a commission, it can't be seen to set all the rules and the themes and we broadcasters are just here to broadcast a debate. The public has to be convinced that we have an independent role in holding those debates and making them happen, so I think that's a very important issue.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was saying that we were even in discussions with Google and Facebook to increase the reach of the debate on digital platforms. Essentially, as long as the consortium was involved in the exercise, the debate was not possible. There was also an opinion that a number of smaller debates was better than one big television debate.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I get to do this because I was intimately involved in negotiating the debates, especially the French one. The 2015 election debate context was a strange one indeed. There was no national televised debate in English because one of the parties declined to participate. In French, there was a national debate with all the major party leaders but without the participation of one of the two major television networks.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Am I talking too fast for the interpreter?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have a copy in English here if you want.

Canadian Heritage committee  We are proceeding in the same way for news. We want to ensure that digital also helps us showcase our content and archives and catch up on content we may have missed.

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you mean it must be the champion of digital? That is what we want as well.

Canadian Heritage committee  I do not think we can escape digital.

Canadian Heritage committee  I am not going to comment on projects that also involve the private sector. That is the subject of some quite specific negotiations. All we can say is that the plan for a new home for Radio-Canada was also made necessary by certain technological changes. That decision was based on a whole set of factors.

Canadian Heritage committee  That is all to your credit. As regards the news, you said that sometimes you listen to television journalists on the radio. That is not just the result of budget cuts. Our journalists work on multiple platforms now, on the web, radio, and television. We of course try to avoid repeating the television voice-over on radio.

Canadian Heritage committee  Talks have started on that point. I will not present a position on behalf of Radio-Canada and the CBC this morning. What I can tell you, however, is that digital is a major asset in enabling us to do so. Consider the example of radio. We just launched a new service called Première PLUS, which is both a catch-up TV and podcast service.