Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record. I am sure the hon. member did not mean it when he said that it was the Reform Party's objective to do away with the debt in three years. I am sure he meant deficit.
Before the hon. member becomes overly defensive about fuel taxes and the impact on Alberta, he should also remember the tax expenditures that go to the oil patch and have gone there over many years. I do not have a figure for last year but I know thatin 1990 the tax expenditures to the oil patch totalled about$850 million. It is only fair to put some of these things intoperspective.
There has always been an element that would like to privatize the CBC. Most people who think that way think of Canada as a long narrow strip of land that ends at about 150-200 miles north of the American border.
Historically the CBC has been one of the ties that have bound Canada together. No private investor would put a repeater station at Wawa, Ontario, for instance, or be broadcasting to the most remote parts of the country. That is what the CBC does.
The people of Canada pay for that service through their taxes so that every Canadian can feel included and a part of this country. If we were to privatize the CBC, what would inevitably happen would be those unprofitable areas of broadcasting would of necessity have to disappear if station was to show black ink at the end of the day.
I would suggest to the hon. member the CBC does perform a very valuable function. The money can be spent more wisely.