Mr. Speaker, when the heritage minister promotes Canadiana she really goes Hollywood.
The minister's CRTC licenses network and specialty TV channels mandating Canadian content. This drives a high demand for production but the dollars and cents simply do not add up to the commercial level.
As a result the minister directs spending of $200 million to pay for the production of TV shows. So we have $200 million a year dispensed through a nightmare of people with sleeping bags and tents waiting outside bureaucrats' offices trying to be first come first served.
The minister presides over a demeaning joke and it is getting worse.
The bureaucracy has already taken a $20 million advance on next year's funding. Informed speculation says Canadians may be paying up to $600 million a year if the minister gets her way. And who asked the taxpayer? Nobody.
Do they really want to pay for her fund? We demand a mandate review of the CRTC and its Canadian content rulings.