Madam Speaker, Bill C-17 is an omnibus bill dealing with a wide range of subjects, from unemployment insurance to Western grain transportation and Atlantic region freight assistance, including a line of credit for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In fact, Bill C-17 affects directly or indirectly 16 acts of Parliament, that is 11 directly and another 5 indirectly. This goes to show the lack of transparency of the federal government, in spite of its campaign promises to that effect.
Bill C-17 typifies the lack of will to be open on the part of the federal government, by bunching various acts together and asking the House to vote on them as a whole. There are many good things in Bill C-17 and some bad ones. I am totally opposed of course, to the planned unemployment insurance reductions in view of how severe the unemployment situation is in Canada.
As for the $25 million line of credit extended to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I would like to focus on this aspect of Bill C-17 for the next 10 minutes. We cannot object to the CBC having a $25 million line of credit. Many reasons can be provided in support of the CBC. The hon. member for Burin-St. George's mentioned earlier "the intention is to put the financial house in order".
There are several other reasons, including perhaps acquisition of new equipment or restructuring. The problem is not so much the line of credit as the matter of control. How will we know how this $25 million will be spent and on what? And how will it be repaid? That the problem. If this government was concerned about transparency, it would make sure this $25 million loan will be subjected to the scrutiny of this place, like all CBC expenditures. Even a blind person could see that there is mismanagement at the CBC.
Here a few examples of mismanagement at the CBC that basically reflect the essence of this government. There is financial mismanagement in government in general. It is particularly obvious at the CBC. And we parliamentarians cannot examine the particulars of CBC expenditures. It would seem that the corporation has no business plan, but if it ever did, it was shelved a long time ago. Recently however, this mismanagement has being causing serious problems. While this government is taking money out of the pockets of the unemployed and away from seniors in their tax credits, it seems ready to tolerate blatant squandering on the part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
I would even dare to ask questions on the fact that the CBC increasingly seems to favour the English-language network at the expense of its French-language counterpart. On the subject of mismanagement, that is quite obvious. Did you know that since 1984, 10 years ago, about 2,000 jobs have been cut at the CBC? Rather drastic cuts were made, for instance, in regional production. In 1990-91, regional production was cut by $46 million.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage even announced very recently that another $100 million would be cut over five years. While experiencing major cuts, layoffs, job losses and service cuts in the regions, the CBC has increased its share of the advertising market.
Between 1979 and 1992, the CBC increased its share of the advertising market from 15 per cent to 25 per cent, nearly doubling its market share in 10 or 15 years. Its revenues have therefore doubled or increased considerably.
Despite drastic cuts in the staff budget and a growing share of the advertising market, CBC's deficit continues to climb. From 1992 through 1995, CBC's deficit was absorbed by the employee pension fund surplus. This deficit is expected to reach $41 million in 1995-96 and CBC itself predicts that it will increase to $78 million by 1998-99. My God, what is wrong at the CBC?
We have serious questions on the operation and management of the CBC. It is obviously poorly managed, there is no control. It is a little like the federal government: a kind of ship sinking in the middle of the ocean.
All we ask for on this side of the House is not necessarily to object to CBC's line of credit because CBC is, of course, an important network with top-notch reporters and expertise we want to keep. We do not necessarily object to this line of credit, but we would still like to have the power, as parliamentarians, to see where this money goes and why the deficit keeps growing despite the cuts and CBC's bigger share of the advertising market.
It is a basic request, and if the federal government really cared about transparency, it would grant it to us. But it will not do so, of course, because its majority will enable it to pass this bill regardless of the good reasons to improve it.
The cuts are serious. For example, I just told you that in 1991-92, CBC's budget was cut by $108 million. Did you know that it cost $129 million to cut this $108 million? The reorganization, that is, all the services put in place to implement the cuts, costs $29 million more than the cuts themselves.
The fact that CBC's production costs rose by $177 million from 1988 to 1993 leads me to believe that this mismanagement on the part of the CBC- In fact, if I had more time, I could have shown you that money has been transferred to the English-language network at the expense of the French-language network.
In any case, in conclusion, we on this side would certainly like to have the right, as parliamentarians, to review the use of this $25 million line of credit to the CBC.