I find it interesting to hear my Conservative colleagues defend the cultural industry and creators. It's refreshing. The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage deals with communication, culture and many such issues. Culture is about entertainment, and I must say that my Conservative colleagues are entertaining and creative in their way of always bringing up the carbon tax.
That said, Mrs. Thomas spoke earlier in her speech about people in the cultural community with whom she discussed the situation that prevails from one end of Canada to the other and that is also extremely worrisome in Quebec. The financial situation is difficult, and the next few months don't seem to be encouraging for the cultural sector either.
We hope that the programs will be maintained, but they will probably not be improved, which is a concern for many. We have seen closures. We have seen festival organizers in financial difficulty. The Just for Laughs festival, among others, won't be held this summer. It's extremely worrisome to see cultural giants in Quebec and Canada stop their activities like that.
That said, I think the situation in Quebec, and particularly in Montreal, where my colleague Mrs. Thomas says she has had conversations, is the same as in the other major cities in Canada.
However, the carbon tax doesn't apply in Quebec, so I would be curious to know what the difference is between the financial situation of the cultural industries in the other major cities in Canada and that of Montreal, so that we can see what the real impact of the carbon tax is on the cultural industry. Since it does not apply to Quebec, we can't say that it has an impact on culture in Quebec. If we can take that as a benchmark, it will allow us to see whether there is really an impact of the carbon tax in the rest of Canada, since—I would remind you—the carbon tax doesn't apply in Quebec.
That's all I have to say.