Mr. Speaker, I will refrain from entering into the debate between the government and the Reform member about Canadian culture, consumer choice, other than to say that we can only have consumer choice if there is something to choose from.
If multinationals occupy all of our theatres, all of the bookstores, all of the magazine racks and Canadians do not have a choice, how in the hell can one have choice? That is my question, pardon the language, to the member of the Reform Party.
In the same vein, I would like to ask the member of the government about enhancing Canadian choice and at the same time allowing the sale of both Macmillan and Ginn to Paramount which will reduce choice.
Would the government be in agreement to have a full and open investigation on this since obviously it was the former Conservative government that entered into this bad deal? Obviously there were not written agreements but verbal agreements, some say by a cabinet minister making a phone call.
There are indications that when a publisher visits Ottawa enquiring about Ginn and gets a response from Paramount there is something very odious and very fishy going on here.
Would the parliamentary secretary agree that a full and open inquiry is needed to bring the body on the table to properly look into what happened so that we and the rest of Canadians would know what exactly the former government undertook to sell out Canadian cultural interests?