Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chance to respond and to suggest some other possible approach for the government.
We are not advocating that we return to the Baie Comeau policy at all. We do not believe in that. What we are saying is that if there were a policy in place and there were some rules to be followed, then those rules should be followed. If we are going to set some guidelines, then let us make sure that everybody knows what they are and follow them.
Having said that, we support moving away from cultural protectionism and we would hope the government will realize that is no longer appropriate in the world. The type of protectionism we have in this country today simply is not working. It leads to some division in the country in that the government makes arbitrary decisions about what constitutes something as personal as culture.
I would argue that is an inappropriate role for the government. That is why we have an uproar when the National Art Gallery buys paintings with taxpayers' money that most people cannot see the value of.
My comments are to encourage the government to move away from that type of protectionism and to let the consumer decide what constitutes culture.