Senator Gold: The decision of the CBC to pursue a lawsuit against the Conservative Party, or anybody else, is a decision made by the CBC, and has nothing to do with the government.

The question of where the money came from, whether it came from ad revenue or taxpayer revenue, as you have asserted without knowledge one way or the other, is also a matter for the management of the CBC and, by extension, the board of directors of the CBC — not for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Plett: Ten days before Canadians voted in the 2019 federal election, the CBC used tax dollars, government dollars — you are the Government Representative, or the Leader of the Government, in the Senate — to sue the Conservative Party. The CBC continued to pursue this lawsuit for a year and a half before it was tossed out. By not answering my questions, the CBC has hidden the financial costs from Canadians ever since.

Are we expected to believe it’s just a coincidence that the video clips the CBC objected to were critical of Prime Minister Trudeau and his government? For example, one of the clips that the CBC didn’t want voters to see was taken from a public town hall meeting in Edmonton in early 2018. The Prime Minister famously told a veteran that they were asking for more than his government could provide. His shameful comments were widely reported. The CBC sued the Conservative Party anyway.

This week, the Prime Minister claimed the CBC is a foundational Canadian institution. Is hiding information from the public for two years the way a foundational institution should behave — yes or no, Senator Gold? How much did the lawsuit cost?