Canadian Heritage committee  Let me begin by saying that I think Lorna Jackson is right. They are two completely different mediums. I wish it was so easy that everything that goes on CBC radio could be transposed, and we'd get the great following on CBC TV. Let me just speak to that one point. CBC radio does not compete with the likes of Hollywood and CSI and Lost.

Canadian Heritage committee  Why don't I try to answer the second question first and then go back to the first one? I've spent the better part of my life working in public companies. The governance level, as you know, in public companies continues to get refined and refined more and more. We've seen the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States spill over into Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a good question. We have 32 million people in this country, and I think 32 million people have an opinion about the CBC. In the less than one month I've been in the position, I've already had letters come to my house from passionate listeners of the CBC who have concerns about the changing format of Radio 2.

Canadian Heritage committee  As you know, the government in power has the final decision on the appointments of chairman, the president and CEO, and also the directors of the board. I would say that my job is to present them with candidates that the board is satisfied with, and then on that basis, the decisions will be made.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think I'm in a position to give you that answer. I've only been in the position a few weeks.

Canadian Heritage committee  I was approached by the PMO's appointments office.

Canadian Heritage committee  I was asked to provide a resumé and submitted to an interview. I think it was no broader than that in the approach.

Canadian Heritage committee  A group of people from government, and it was, as I understand it, part of the process. It's all fairly new to me.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, it was not the CBC; it was the government.

Canadian Heritage committee  I believe so.

Canadian Heritage committee  My view is that I'll be working with senior management. In a perfect world, we'd love to come back to the federal government and take the allocation of $60 million up to a higher level, because it would give us more flexibility to do more programming in both English and French. I think realistically, though, that has to be subject to the mandate review you are working on right now.

Canadian Heritage committee  As I said earlier, the role of a public broadcaster is profound. With everything that's going on in the world right now, we must attract young people so that they understand that discussions in favour of democracy do not merely exist, but that they must continue, and it is the role of CBC/Radio-Canada to raise the level of that discussion across the country.

Canadian Heritage committee  You know that CBC and Radio-Canada are a corporation and that the current strategy is to integrate all initiatives. For example, here in Ottawa, there are platforms for news in English and in French, on television and on radio. With technology, we can put everything together. I went to Montreal last week and to Vancouver in early May.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a very good question, but I'm not in a very good position to give you an exact answer at this time. All I can tell you is that the team responsible for CBC/Radio-Canada is solving the problems, in particular on English-language television, as was the case with French-language television five years ago.

Canadian Heritage committee  In the region of—