Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to make a few comments concerning Bill C-55. This is a very important issue for all of us. What we are debating embodies some very important principles.
The House of Commons, with the support of the NDP caucus, passed the Canadian version of Bill C-55. I say Canadian version because we know that what we are looking at now has a slightly different approach to it. When we passed this bill a few months back we gave our support because of the protection this bill offered to Canadian magazines from new split-run editions of American magazines. That was the reason for our lukewarm support. We had a lot of concerns about this bill but we did stick with the government and we did support the bill.
At that time we expressed frustration because the bill seemed to be the subject of bargaining behind closed doors with the Americans. This concerned us greatly. The minister gave us her assurance that the spirit of Bill C-55 would be respected in any deal that was worked out. How wrong we were to have believed that.
Let us look for a moment at the contents of what we call the Canadian bill. What did it provide?
Bill C-55 would make it an offence for a publisher to provide advertising services aimed at the Canadian market to be placed in foreign periodical publications, except for those currently receiving Canadian advertising. They could continue at the current level of Canadian advertising under the grandparenting provision.
An offence was enforceable by a Canadian court in any Canadian jurisdiction chosen by the crown after an investigation ordered by the minister using powers of investigation borrowed from the Criminal Code. The penalties ranged from a maximum of $20,000 for an individual first offence on a summary conviction to $250,000 for a corporate offender on indictment. There were also provisions for jail terms.
Offences that took place outside Canada by foreign individuals or corporations were deemed to have taken place in Canada for the purpose of enforcement of this act. The government could collect unpaid fines levied upon conviction in the same manner as a civil judgment.
There were a lot of things in this bill that perhaps merited some consideration. But what happened to this bill? The Americans became concerned and they threatened a trade war. Canadian trade experts both inside and outside government stated repeatedly that the Canadian version of Bill C-55 was WTO proof and that the cultural exclusion in NAFTA would also protect Canada in any trade war. Yet after months of behind closed door negotiations the Prime Minister directly intervened and Canada gave in. We surrendered. We caved in.
An hon. member mentioned earlier that we are all Americans, but we know full well that there is quite a difference between Canadian culture and American culture. Even though we all are part of the North American continent, there is quite a difference in approach and in cultural identity and so forth between our two countries.
Quite often we see that Canada gives in to the Americans. We give in on matters that involve our environment. We allow substances to be put into our environment because the Americans will sue us if we do not allow those substances to be used. We give in to big brother so to speak.
The heritage minister had the Senate introduce amendments which we now see in this bill in order to implement our capitulation to the Americans. After using time allocation in the Senate, the Senate passed the bill and it is before the House today.
What exactly did Canada give away? Let us look at the definitions of Canadian content, editorial content or non-advertising. It is considered Canadian as long as it is original to the magazine and aimed exclusively at a Canadian market; not if it was written by a Canadian, but as long as it is original and aimed at the Canadian market.
The precedent is now set for the Americans to challenge the definitions of Canadian content under the WTO and NAFTA. This could have a profound impact on our protections in broadcasting, book publishing, films and even our protections in all cultural institutions.
An hon. member from the Reform Party made some reference to the NDP critic's description of culture and the use of the term soul. I am proud that we in the NDP are concerned with issues that relate to the soul. We are concerned about things that are meaningful to us. We go beyond the dollar and cents value that quite often is placed upon things by so many others. Quite often that dominates and determines what the end policy is going to be, rather than the heart and soul having some role to play in terms of our Canadian culture.
With respect to control of our own market, the original Bill C-55 made it illegal for the new split-run magazines to accept Canadian advertising. Under the American deal we will allow new split runs to be created to invade our market with up to 18% Canadian advertising phased in over three years. Canadian advertisers can now write off on their taxes a portion of their ad expenses spent on Canadian magazines. In a sense the government is making the taxpayers subsidize the American industry.
The original bill grandfathered existing split runs such as Reader's Digest , Time , Sports Illustrated and so forth, but the new bill allows for new split runs and that is the real threat to our magazine industry.
I could go on at some length about some of the problems with this deal, but it is a cave-in by the Canadian government. Often the Liberal government caves in, sells out and gives up on the basic values that are important to us.
I could go through a number of examples of how this happens. I look, for example, at the need for a national shipbuilding policy. Again this is an issue on which the government has caved in. It is afraid to face up to the fact that we need a national shipbuilding policy to enable many skilled people who are looking for work in this area to pursue that work in a meaningful way.
The government constantly says that it has a policy. It gives one or two examples of a few concessions here or there but nothing that sets any sense of direction for a national shipbuilding policy.
Let us look at the most recent issue of the treatment of merchant mariners. These honourable veterans served their country well. Yet after the war they ended up being mistreated. They were not given the opportunities that were given to the regular military. These men have been fighting for years to be recognized as having contributed in a meaningful way to the protection and well-being of their country.
We get to a point where finally some recognition is given through legislation. However they are saying they want some compensation for lost opportunities. They want the government to show in a symbolic way that it understands what they went through and what they suffered, not at the hands of the enemy so much but at the hands of their own government.
The government had the opportunity to correct the situation. An all party committee listened to witnesses from across the country who felt that these men should be adequately rewarded. What did the government do when there was the opportunity to correct the situation? Again it looked at the bottom line of the dollar figure and caved in.
We receive letters from many constituents on this matter. One letter was from a navy veteran in the province of New Brunswick and concerned the article in the Times transcript today. He did not agree with the chairman of the committee that most veterans did not think they should get the $20,000 payment. He did not know to whom the chairman had been been talking but he knew the way veterans felt about it and that they did not feel that way. He wanted something to be done to ensure that the actual feelings of the veterans were heard. We feel that these merchant mariners should get this compensation.
Other veterans are speaking out on behalf of merchant mariners. People from all across the country are speaking out. Yet the government caves in.
Then we have the issue concerning the military ombudsman. Well over a year ago the government put in place a system designed to facilitate men and women in the armed forces in obtaining an independent means of redress of their concerns. Even then the government did not make it truly independent. Rather than the ombudsman being accountable to parliament, he ends up being accountable to the Minister of National Defence.
We thought we should give it a try and see how it would work. Well after a year the military ombudsman is sitting powerless. He produced a report which he called The Way Forward . He sent it on to the minister for a response. That report has been sitting on the minister's desk for over 150 days. The minister is sitting silent. He has caved in again, perhaps to the top military brass. We do not know. With hundreds of complaints waiting and thousands expected, the minister has not yet responded to the military ombudsman's report to enable him to begin his work.
There is clearly a need for the government to look seriously at accountability and fairness and how these concepts can be enhanced through an ombudsman concept for the military and perhaps even for the federal government as a whole.
Again it is an example of caving in, an example of looking at the dollars and not giving any consideration to the other principles involved in trying to help people resolve their problems.
Then again we look at employment insurance and the employment insurance grab that took place, another example of grabbing the dollars and forgetting about the unemployed men and women out there who could benefit from those funds in a meaningful way.
Recently with Bill C-78, the pension surplus grab, the pension funds of the Canadian military, the RCMP and public servants were being grabbed for the government's coffers without any consideration of how best to improve the benefits being received by survivors and contributors to the pension funds. Again it is a cave-in by the government. We could also look at pay equity, another big example of a cave-in by the government.
I return to one example that is very dear to my heart and very important to me. I am referring to a small community in my riding that is without a good, clean, healthy, drinking water supply. One might ask in this day and age how it could be possible that a community is drawing water from wells that is not suitable for drinking and not suitable for washing clothes. There are young children and older people in that community. These people are living next to the main water supply for the city of Halifax. It passes them by. It is unbelievable in this day and age.
We have been struggling to get funds to enable the project to move ahead to get these people hooked up to the central water system. We are only asking for a small contribution from the federal government for that project, a contribution which could have well been handled under the Canada infrastructure works program. Because of a slight mix-up the project did not get in under that program. Even money that had been committed by the federal government has been taken off the books. We are struggling to get some money to assist with the project.
Where are the government's priorities? Cave-in, cave-in, cave-in. That is what is happening with Bill C-55. The changes that have been made to the bill are a cave-in by the government. It is an attempt to try to avoid protecting Canadian culture. If we are to be seen as truly proud Canadians, at some point we must stand up and be counted.
I spoke to an hon. member from the government side who said to me just yesterday that it was awful to have to do something one does not want to do. I asked him if he was referring to the merchant marines and he said that was right. I told him that I thought it was time he stood and was counted and that he did not have to do something he did not want to do.
When I was campaigning I said very clearly to my constituents that I did not want politics to change me. If it ever get to a point where I will not stand up for what I believe to be right and make a decision based upon my conscience and upon what I know to be right, I will be ineffective in politics and it is the time for me to get out.
Whenever we are considering changes to legislation hon. members should remember that we have to stand and be counted. We have to base our stand upon the principles we believe in as individuals. We have to be true to ourselves if we are to be true at all in forming legislation that will be meaningful.
With those remarks I would say the amendments and changes to the bill do nothing to enhance Canadian culture. They do nothing to secure or protect our magazine industry. I urge all hon. members to consider this point, to reject what we call the American deal, and to promote a truly positive deal for Canadians.