Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
In 1792, James Madison expressed his concerns about the fate of the democratic experiment. He warned of a real domination of a few under an apparent liberty of the many, deploring “the daring depravity of the times” as private powers became “the praetorian band of the government”, at once its tools and its tyranny.
Echoing the previous speakers, on behalf of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, I want to bring two things to the attention of the members. The first is clearly political. It is a message that reflects democracy and the kind of democracy we want to have in this country. The other one is economical. By concentrating all those corporations together, we're going to have a monopoly. A monopoly is really bad because the moment they achieve whatever they want, the prices move up.
Speaking about Rogers, I have in front of me one of its invoices. Three years ago they approached someone and offered him a deal for $250 a month for telephones and everything in the house. This month, he received another bill for $370. The same services moved from $250 to $370. I'm wondering if the Canadian people can afford to pay to Mr. Rogers, or anybody else, $400 a month just to have television or to have the telephone lines connected to the system.
This is the reason that the National Ethnic Press is against this amalgamation. It is bad for the state. It is bad for the people. It is bad for our justice and our security. We have to stand up for the freedom of the press. Freedom of the press means diverse voices that this country has to show all over the world.
My organization represents 1,200 media outlets all over Canada in 103 different languages. We try to inform our readers with our best ability and our ability to express and serve the Government of Canada and their people.