Mr. Speaker, indeed the speaker prior to myself put his finger on it. If we do not like the sitcoms we are looking at that have been prepared at the expense of the studio and paid for by the sponsors, we turn them off at no cost to ourselves because the sponsors are the people who are paying the bill.
In an instance when Canadians are paying the bill, how is this House held accountable? The speaker spoke of the right of artistic expression. That is a wonderful term.
The reality is that I receive on a weekly basis at least a dozen letters from concerned Canadians saying that they are being taxed to death. They take a look at the material that is being produced and find it vile and offensive. Who is accountable?
When we have this speaker from the NDP and the Minister of Canadian Heritage comparing today's vile pornographers to the Group of Seven, I find that a leap that is a chasm far too wide.
What this bill is about and indeed what we should be talking about in this House of Commons, the action we should be taking in this House of Commons is to hold this House of Commons accountable for the taxpayers' dollars, whether it is going out to the Canada Council or it is going out to health care.
Whatever it is going out to, I am here because the people sent me here to be accountable. Indeed I have gone to the artists, as I mentioned in the finance committee, I have gone to the minister in the heritage committee and now I come to this House.
Apart from Reform members of Parliament, there is no one in this House of Commons who is prepared to stand to be accountable for the Canadian taxpayers' dollars and the way in which they are being spent. That is a shame.