Procedure and House Affairs committee  Chair and members of the committee, we are very grateful for the opportunity to be with you, and we are all very grateful to be part of this process. Democracy matters, debates count, and we will appreciate your advice. With any luck, there will be an opportunity for the Leader

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I deeply regret the difficulties and problems that this question caused.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, thank you for that question. Certainly we will have the inclusivity that is part of Canada as an important part of our discussion, and a diversity in attempting to reflect in the general organization of the debates that full inclusivity. Second, we are pleased tha

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. Madam Chair, first of all, thank you for suggestions on how one can best manage the process of choosing the production team. With respect to the specific incident you mentioned, I'm not aware of it being drawn to my attention. I'm not certain whether other of my coll

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In general, should the debates commission be continued, we would, in this interim period leading up to the next election, expect to spend a fair amount of time on that question, gathering the best experience we can. As I have indicated, the choice of a moderator is very key, from

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, there are two answers to those two related questions. Number one, I was really very heartened in the consultations to see that it wasn't entertainment or knockout blows or worldwide wrestling that one was looking for in these debates. The widespread view of Canadian

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm sorry?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, CBC/Radio-Canada were the lead in a group of 35 different television stations. Let me give a precise answer to that question. The debates broadcast group was a partnership of 10 news organizations, with the CBC/Radio-Canada acting on behalf of the consortium which

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, through you, “led” would be a word to say that it kind of organized a group to come to a consensus on what was involved. That group included media organizations like APTN, CBC, CTV, Global, Radio-Canada, Noovo, the Coopérative nationale de l'information indépendant

Procedure and House Affairs committee  —was made.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's fine.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The public broadcaster managed the contract, which had a contractual commitment of up to two million dollars, and the debate production then fell below that to just over $1.7 million, but what happened was that in the request for proposals there was a clear set-out as to what cos

Procedure and House Affairs committee  First of all, the debates production team was chosen in a public tender process with a request for proposals. The proposals came in, and we made the judgment and looked at parts of that. Going forward, we expect we will use the same kind of process, but we will begin it earlier

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, through you to the member, there are two questions there, really. One is on the specifics of contracts. I'm not aware of any criticism of any of those contracts and their allocation. We try to be very careful to abide by all Treasury Board rules. I have not heard o

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, through you to the member, there was substantial criticism about some aspects of both the moderation and the format, and that's why we are recommending that the commission have ultimate responsibility for both the choice of the moderator and the format, but in very c