Mr. Speaker, there is only a little over a minute left in this debate. I just want to make one point.
I think my colleagues who have spoken before have outlined a number of initiatives that are being taken in the area of literacy both to help very young children and right through to university and so on, to help the libraries and schools that are instrumental in helping young people to read and adults to learn to read, often for the first time very late in life. They are instrumental along with a number of community organizations that are also supported by the funds that are raised in part through the GST.
I have to ask a question of my colleagues on the opposite side of the fence. One of the results of taking the GST off reading materials would be to reduce the amount of revenue coming from the GST. We have to ask ourselves who it benefits. Among others, the people who benefit are the people who are buying things like Hustler , Penthouse , Playboy and the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated .
Is it really important to help literacy by helping publications that are doing quite well, thank you very much, and do not need any help whatsoever from the taxpayer? Or, should we look in fact at investing directly into literature and reading material that is available to the general public as we do through schools, libraries, universities and so on and through very directed literacy programs delivered on the ground by community organizations across this country?
I, frankly, prefer the latter.