Thank you.
Yes, I do speak from the heart. As an immigrant, I perhaps have a greater appreciation of this country than even those who were born here and take it for granted. I have lived in literally every part of it, and I have travelled to every part in which I have not lived, from sea to sea to sea. So I am a passionate Canadian. For me, the CBC is fundamental to the Canadian identity.
I am not going to be anti-American, because I'm not. It's an extremely interesting culture to the south of us, but it's huge and it is rapacious and it seeks to spread its culture wherever. I see this country as a very special country. When I talked earlier about this experiment...it's a wonderful experiment. It is an attempt to create a country that's different from anything that has ever existed on the face of the world before, in its inclusivity, in the kinds of relationships it can build, in the kinds of maturity of life in all its forms that it can provide for its citizens. It's not finding it easy, particularly as tensions mount outside of the country's boundaries amongst the relatives of those who now reside within the country's boundaries.
I believe we need to assert an identity that is enormously inclusive and tolerant and that enables people to share with each other their stories, their lives, their feelings, and their passions in a peaceful and effective way.
I believe we're succeeding to a very large degree. I believe the CBC is fundamental to that quest, and it disturbs me that the CBC is often looked at as just another commodity, just another thing that the state has to support.
CBC is fundamental to enabling this Canadian experiment to succeed, and I am utterly passionate about it. I love this country. I choose to live here. I owe so much to this country. It's a very special place, and I think we lose sight of that. I think we lose sight of the ability of the CBC, of the national broadcaster, to reflect this country to itself. We are not insisting that the CBC do it well enough and we're not funding them to do it well enough. That's the problem.