Procedure and House Affairs committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's wonderful to be back. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today. Thank you inviting the Leaders' Debates Commission to review our main estimates. You've kindly introduced us, so let me jump ri

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You have a very good memory and you offend frequently.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  May the habit be contagious.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We look also to the provinces and the leaders debates there so that we have some built in Canada examples. As we think about civic engagement, we look to the other occasions when debates, discussions and animated exchanges on political issues are encouraged, right through to an i

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We do not, the U.S. does.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. We will have a request for proposals. We would expect a consortium would emerge that would undertake the responsibility for the production and the distribution of the debate with high journalistic qualities to make the feed free of charge to a number of other entities. At th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. All of what you said plus more.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Those are two very important questions. First of all, in our terms of reference in the request for proposals we will establish the conditions that come from our mandate as to the kind and type of debate in the public interest that we want. We'll ask for commentary on the matters

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If we came to the conclusion that this was happening there would be a discussion with the successful consortium to seek what remedy was available. Within our mandate we do not have enforcement powers to step in and say thou shall not do that. In the U.S., the commission on debat

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In fairness, we haven't totally sorted out copyright. We're seeking legal advice on that. My own view offhand, without having considered it, is that the copyright would remain with the consortium that produces and disseminates the debate. Any breach of copyright infractions would

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, and thank you once again for the contribution to the Rideau Hall Foundation, Scott.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  They were chosen by us, with my ultimate responsibility, taking advice from the secretariat, and we were guided by the references that are in our mandate. I can refer that to you, if you wish. It does indicate that one should select some members of the advisory board who have had

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, that was entirely handled by ourselves.