Canadian Heritage committee  With respect, I think what we said is that every Canadian, every person in Canada, no matter where they live, expects and deserves to live a connected life. We've made it about the individual, not about the community.

Canadian Heritage committee  Fair enough and—

Canadian Heritage committee  If you look at our report, we really start with the principle of universality of service and we propose enshrining in the telecom act, as an objective, that everyone, no matter where they live, deserves to have universal broadband connectivity in a safe and secure environment, at an affordable price.

Canadian Heritage committee  We thought a lot about what it takes to have effective collegial decision-making and how we can enhance the collegiality and effectiveness of decision-making at the CRTC. That is embodied in recommendation four. However, we recognized that in terms of ensuring that the CRTC has a broad perspective on the interests and views and perspectives of Canadians from all different sectors and parts of the country, including accessibility requirements, linguistic diversity and diversity of other types, we recommended the formation of a public interest committee of up to 25 members, which composition would enable the CRTC to have that broader perspective.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, it's up to nine commissioners, with broad representation from different parts of the country. The only change we've made is that they should be required to live in the national capital region for the term of their office, because—

Canadian Heritage committee  I just would add that we looked at the funding of public broadcasters around the world, and of the OECD countries, CBC/Radio-Canada is pretty much at the bottom of the list at about $30 per person per year, whereas if you look at the U.K. and other countries that are really well established, well recognized, it's more in the $55 to $70 per capita range.

Canadian Heritage committee  The recommendation is that the government enter into an agreement with CBC/Radio-Canada, a five-year agreement, with a clear understanding of what they would be expected to deliver and the resources necessary to deliver it, with an annual report through the CRTC back to Parliament on their meeting the commitments set out in the operating agreement.

Canadian Heritage committee  We addressed it in a number of different ways. We certainly have to balance the rights of individuals to freedom of expression. We spent some time already talking about the importance of free speech. There's freedom of expression on one side and illegal content on the other. What's the grey matter in between which is about misinformation, fake news, whether it's collectively targeted or targeted towards individuals?

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that's a great question. One thing we recognized explicitly in our report is the need for collaboration at the federal, provincial and even the municipal levels. One recommendation we made is that the minister should report annually to Parliament on the status of broadband deployment, and it was for exactly that reason, so that there would be an obligation on the part of the minister to report to Parliament on how all these programs are working together to solve the problem.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's a great question to look at: What is the right way to have an independent regulator that looks at all the issues in front of us? We studied the models available in other countries around the world. We had a report done just to look at that. We were particularly influenced by the model in the U.K., with the British regulator Ofcom and the fact that they have quite a large group that does what I would call strategic foresight and research as part of the duty of the regulator, not just to react to the issues that come before them, but to be proactive in looking at what's coming ahead.

Canadian Heritage committee  All I can speak to is what we said in our report, and I want to be clear that we did not recommend that media organizations be licensed based on their content perspective or on any other basis. That's not our vision. In fact, our report recommends that we further enshrine the principle of journalistic independence in legislation.

Canadian Heritage committee  We're going to be close to 90% of Canadians having broadband coverage, I believe within a year. The question is how do we get that last 10% done. Obviously, it is a case of looking at the mix of federal and provincial programs, as well as the broadband rollout plans of the facilities-based providers in Canada, and looking at where there is no economic case, how we ensure that on a coordinated basis across multiple federal programs, as well as provincial initiatives, that takes place as quickly as possible.

Canadian Heritage committee  We made it very clear that we do not intend to regulate the news or in any way interfere with journalistic freedom of expression.

Canadian Heritage committee  If you don't mind I'll speak in English. Let me say that we made it very clear, both in the telecom section of the report and the broadcasting section of the report, that we believe in a free and open Internet. In our telecom recommendations, we proposed that one of the objectives of the act be the right to a free and open Internet because we recognize....

Canadian Heritage committee  My colleague, Monique, just referred to the panel's recommendations regarding Canada's news industry. I'd like to pause on that for just a minute, because there has been some confusion about the problem the panel was actually trying to address and what we actually recommended. Allow me to start with the problem.