I say to the minister that we have had all kinds of hearings. The minister knows full well that broadcasters have insisted that what is in the bill is not adequate. Nor is it clear enough. Unfortunately broadcasters will have to jump through major hoops simply because the government has not been listening closely to what they are saying.
The minister and the parliamentary secretary across the way are concerned about the input of broadcasters. After all, they are the vehicle for the promotion of so much Canadian culture. Who could deny that they have done anything but a wonderful job? It escapes me why the government would not be listening a little closer.
I want to make a couple of comments on behalf of my former colleagues in the broadcast industry. Please forgive me for doing this, Mr. Speaker, but I simply must. Yesterday we had some wonderful artists here from around the country, people who represented Canadian culture in various sectors: painters, poets and writers involved in film. It is important to remember that Canadian radio and television broadcasters should be standing beside those people, the vehicles for the promotion of culture.
Over the last several years broadcasters have taken many hits at the hands of the former Conservative government and even at the hands of this government. Taxes continue to climb. All kinds of radio and television stations are in great financial difficulty. They have been struggling to make a go of it. When those various outlets disappear they are not there to promote Canadian culture.
The government is proposing legislation that will make it extremely difficult for marginal stations to make a go of it. It will make it extremely difficult for those in very tight competitive situations to make a go of it. Therefore it is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. The government is making it extremely difficult for broadcasters who have done a wonderful job of promoting culture over the years to continue doing that.
Broadcasters have tried to work very closely with the minister and her department. They have made extraordinary efforts to come to the committee to explain their position. They have been at the beck and call of the department. They are more than willing to come and have a dialogue with the minister and her departmental officials at any time. Even Liberal members across the way have worked closely with broadcasters to try to get their point of view.
Unfortunately on these common sense issues the government has not listened. Many bureaucrats in the Department of Heritage who think they know better than broadcasters what their business is. On this particular issue they simply do not. Broadcasters have made it clear over and over again that this will impede their ability to do their job which ultimately, after making a profit and all those sorts of things, is to promote Canadian culture in many different ways.
If I have not said it forcefully enough, I am extremely disappointed. Canadian broadcasters will be extremely disappointed. The people who listen to radio stations and who watch television stations will also be disappointed that the legislation is being forced through.
The government has joined forces with the Bloc Quebecois after a lot of debate has gone on in this place. We have reached a point where we could make some changes and the government has gone ahead and said it will ignore those common sense solutions. It will bull ahead and put forward solutions which simply are not adequate.
I do not know if there is much more I could say on the issue other than that I know I speak for broadcasters across the country when I say they will be extremely disappointed.