Thirty-six per cent of federal funds for cultural institutions were distributed in Quebec, including 37 per cent of the funds for Telefilm Canada, 40 per cent of the National Film Board funds, and 37 per cent of the funds for CBC. Let me perhaps repeat that.
My translation is not perfect. Although the province of Quebec represents only 25 per cent of the population, 36 per cent of federal funding for cultural organizations was distributed in this province, including 37 per cent for Telefilm Canada, 40 per cent for the National Film Board and 37 per cent for Radio-Canada. Imagine!
If these figures are accurate, the hon. member has no reason to argue in this House that there is a problem with what the federal government does about culture in the province of Quebec.
I realize that the hon. member for Témiscamingue, who chairs one of the organizing committees for the referendum in the province of Quebec and probably has quite a few problems on his plate right now, has his own views on the subject. If there are any museums in his riding, he should talk to his friends in the Reform Party who want to kill these museums. He probably wants to support them. If there is a museum, it will certainly get a lot of money from the federal government, because of the huge amounts the government is spending in his province.
I urge the hon. member to recant his heresy, abandon the idea of separation, and jump on the bandwagon so that he can keep receiving all these benefits the museums in his constituency receive from the Government of Canada.
The Leader of the Opposition, and I thank the member for Ottawa West for reminding me of this statement, declared before the Bélanger-Campeau commission
"One of the splendid achievements of the Canadian dream was the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. We all know that our cultural roots developed largely thanks to and under the aegis of those cultural titans who worked at the CBC".
The Leader of the Oppostion and the premier of Quebec are henchmen in leading the parade for the yes vote in Quebec. If he acknowledges that Canada has contributed so greatly, surely he ought to acknowledge that a little more often during the referendum debate. I have not heard him speaking on that subject. I do not understand it.
Since the hon. member for Témiscamingue is here and hearing this, perhaps when he next speaks with his leader he could remind him of this statement and of the tremendous support Canada gives to cultural industries in Quebec and indeed elsewhere in the country.
We in this party are proud to support Canada's cultural industries.