Madam Speaker, I was not intending to speak this morning but on listening to the debate I found it interesting and realized I have a few ideas members of the House and perhaps some of the people out there who pay the bills would be interested in hearing.
I acknowledge publicly and proudly that I have received a few letters and a few phone calls, not many, which say “please support the CBC. We like it and we do not want it to be diminished or abolished”. I put that fact on the record.
On balance I should also say that I have a greater number of communications from people in my riding who are asking me to seriously consider letting CBC stand on its own legs and stop propping it up with taxpayers dollars. We have both sides in the riding where I am from.
Who of us does not appreciate the CBC? I remember for many years listening to programs like the Royal Canadian Airfarce and enjoying the humour. I suppose those of us in the House have all been the subject of their ribbing humour. We enjoy it even when they poke fun at us because its usually very humorous.
I remember way back I used to almost religiously listen to Double Exposure on CBC Radio because again it was very funny, entertaining, and yet made a social comment. If I were asked if this defines what it means to be a Canadian, I would humbly submit that being a Canadian is much more than that.
I also think of a program like Cross Country Checkup on Sunday afternoons, with Rex Murphy; I hardly ever miss it. What a great venue it is to bring Canadians together. People can phone in from coast to coast. I do not know exactly how rigorous their screening process is, but it gives Canadians an opportunity to express their points of view and it gives all of us across the country an opportunity to hear those points of view.
Those are very good points, but the question here is with respect to funding. My constituents are telling me very strongly that we ought to be supporting those things that Canadians support. We believe the marketplace is what can do that.
I remember a number of years ago when one local magazine, whose name I do not want to give, published a very demeaning article about the daughter of the prime minister of the day. I did not read the article but I heard about it. I said I would never give that magazine a nickel because of what it did. I have the right to do that. I have kept that promise with one exception. On one occasion there was a very funny article. I do not believe in breaking copyright rules, so instead of making a photocopy of the article I in fact bought one issue of that magazine.
When the CBC or other broadcasters come up with things that we do not like, we have the right as citizens to boycott the product that is sponsoring the program or in other ways to exert pressure by saying we do not approve of what is happening.
One of the most obscene things I ever heard was on CBC Radio. It was totally demeaning to women. It was an outrage. This was before I was a member of parliament. I asked what I could do and there was nothing. They tax me. They give the money to CBC. They fund this stuff. They have the right to crank it out. There is no way that we can control it.
I agree the government ought not to be controlling broadcasting. They need to be kept at arm's length, but if they are at arm's length to whom will they be answerable and where is the final accountability.
The member proposing the motion has five minutes to speak and I would like to concede the floor at this stage. Let us carefully consider the funding of the CBC and the accountability of what is broadcast.