Public Safety committee  A sense of critical thinking above all, I think, is the most foundational ingredient to be able to debunk ridiculousness like what we just saw here. It heartens me to hear that after the committee has had a chance to think through it or review the documents, they don't really pass muster.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. To be able to decipher truth from falsehood, critical thinking is foundational. I don't know where we're going to be able to do that. The point about the education system...we have every province and territory. We're not teaching that, and that's—

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. It's a core principle, just like mathematics and an understanding of how biology works are. People are on their smart phones right now. You are engaging in an environment where there is warfare going on right now. You need to have the tools to be able to fight back against that.

Public Safety committee  I can answer that. Absolutely not. I think Meta's actions in the wake of the Online News Act were cowardly. I think they backed away as soon as possible because they understood there were going to be a lot of potential liabilities based on what was going on in the United States in the election that just took place and they didn't really want to be in that game.

Public Safety committee  Fair enough.

Public Safety committee  Yes. Absolutely. I think it sows mistrust. It sows division. It makes people question what a journalist does and what their value is to society. I think undermining that is a dangerous principle that we can't tolerate.

Public Safety committee  I was watching some of the previous committee meetings to get a sense of where things were and to get up to speed. I particularly appreciate the idea behind some of the Scandinavian countries to ensure information resilience and public literacy on this. I think something that I see every day is that people don't understand the difference between a news report and an opinion article.

Public Safety committee  This is quite different in its own right, the fact that it was declared, that it was asserted by a former cabinet minister in a standing committee of a democratically operated organization. I think this is something that really takes the cake. However, I think we also need to be really aware of the challenges that journalists are facing out in the field every day in covering protests and injunction zones.

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you, all, for agreeing to hear me today and for the opportunity to address the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. While I wholeheartedly endorse the study this committee is undertaking to look into Russian disinformation and interference campaigns in Canada, that's not exclusively the reason I am here today.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm a total dork. That's okay.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. I'm okay. I'm interested in the motion. I'll just stay.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think what the government can do—or parliamentarians, I should say, not government—is focus on news literacy education. That's different from media literacy. That's not about how to use your iPhone and what platforms to go to. It's about the mechanics and the study of what journalism is, what a lead is, why you have both sides or why you don't have both sides.

Canadian Heritage committee  I worry about what news deserts would look like without the LJI. There are so many small news organizations right now that are hoping, praying and waiting for some acknowledgement and understanding about what's going to happen with this program. There are hundreds of journalists who have moved to places like Churchill, Manitoba, or to The Pas because they had a job there.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's getting to the point where something needs to happen. We need some action. Otherwise, I see a generation of journalists coming out of journalism school unsure about the future. I was talking to a colleague who is the same age as I am. We couldn't believe what we were hearing from some young journalists currently in journalism school or running community newspapers about the challenges of getting a job.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. I think there are people who aren't just exploring them; there are people who are actually doing them, and there are several examples. There was a great piece in the Globe and Mail a couple of days ago about journalists going about it in their own different ways.