Thank you for calling me back to order. I was going to say I was amazed when the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell said I was someone who could not make up his mind. I changed parties but I did not change my way of thinking. The principles that led me into politics were no longer compatible with the principles of the party to which I belonged. The party had changed, and to remain true to my principles, I had the courage to cross the floor of the House and sit on this side, first as an independent member and subsequently as one of a group of eight members who formed a political party.
When the hon. member saw his party renege on its commitments regarding unemployment, renege on its commitments regarding agriculture, renege on its commitments to protect French culture in Canada by cutting 5 per cent of funding, renege on its commitments to maintaining the public service, renege on its commitments with respect to the CBC, did he have the courage to cross the floor and sit down on this side of the House, as I did in 1990 when the party I served failed to live up to my principles?
That is what I did, but the hon. member, according to an article in Le Droit , ``this lion in the opposition is now a mere mouse''. Indeed he is. That is my response.
Now if he really believes in the CBC, I also believe in the CBC's French network, but if he really believes-when he mentioned the RDI, I commented that some areas do not have it yet, but because there is a French network, because there is an
RDI, why would his department jeopardize their existence? That is what today's debate is all about.
Why would the government not guarantee funding? Why not guarantee funding for the CBC over a five-year period? That is what it is not doing and that is what we want it to do. We want the government to stop operating on the sly and to stop contradicting itself from one day to the next. That is what we want from the minister. Give us the facts, give us stable budgets, maintain what has been achieved by the French network, consider that the CBC's French network is more productive than the English network, provide the same funding for the news on French and English radio stations, provide the same funding for variety programs and for all sports programming.
What we want from the minister is a fair deal and the same guarantees he, his party and his prime minister promised the corporation during the election campaign and in the red book.
That is what we are asking today. Why does the hon. member who asked me a question not have the courage to say: "Yes, I did promise that, yes, we were supposed to do that and we will support the Bloc's motion to put pressure on the minister who no longer has a clue what his department is all about".