Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
The Canadian Development Investment Corporation has just agreed to sell its 51 per cent share of Ginn Publishing Canada, a Toronto company specializing in the publication and distribution of educational materials, to the American company Paramount Communications. This sale has caused an outcry of indignation in the press and the publishing world.
Could the minister confirm the suggestion made by Maclean's magazine that the secret agreement made it possible for the American company to take control of Ginn Publishing as soon as the book publishing policy was changed? If not, how does he explain the fact that the government has used certain unresolved questions such as the distribution agreement as excuses for not actively seeking potential Canadian buyers?