Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague for Burin-St. George's with a great deal of interest as he addressed the questions of youth, youth training and the amount of attention we are paying to youth unemployment.
It is a very serious question in my riding as well. We do not want youth taking to the 401 because of the referendum that is hanging over our heads in Quebec. I bring to the attention of my constituents that as long as that referendum question hangs in the air, we have an obligation in this government. We have a responsibility to ensure that the debate is conducted with all the facts on the table, that there are clear rules of procedure, that the process is fair, that the consequences are clear and that all Canadians have a say in that.
I am very pleased that my colleague clarified the question on the goods and services tax. We never said we would get rid of the goods and services tax. We said we would harmonize it and we would raise equivalent revenues in the process of trying to deal with a new method to ensure that it is fair, understood by all and that small business will not be crushed by the mechanisms that have been put into place.
Does my colleague not get a sense of comfort because Newfoundland has developed such outstanding and creative artists in the field of song and dance? For example the CBC program "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" is so uniquely from Newfoundland. Was he not encouraged to see that we are focusing on cultural industries recognizing their worth and are supportive of the CBC?
We look forward to the budget speech tomorrow and seeing how well we are going to do with respect to our interests in cultural industries.