My colleague from Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre has reminded me that culture and the arts are ranked among the top five contributors to the economic life of this country. There are many spinoff benefits. There is an incredible economic value to this whole sector which we cannot ignore.
If we put together our intrinsic belief in upholding and preserving the culture of the nation with the economic benefit, surely we have a formula that is beyond reproach in terms of support and significance in terms of government action, legislation and policy.
That obviously leads to a strong cultural policy. It is important to note that this country does not have a national cultural policy. For at least 10 years groups like the Canadian Conference of the Arts and many others across this country have been clamouring at the doorsteps of the government for a national cultural policy.
To this day, June 10, 1999, we do not have a national cultural policy. We have seen study after study after study, but no action. Another subcommittee of the heritage committee has just completed another cross-country tour trying to find out what Canadians think about cultural policy. It heard the same message again and again. Yes, we need a cultural policy to give meaning to what it is that we want to preserve as Canadian culture.
Given the fact that we are dealing with Bill C-55, I am beginning to understand why we may not have a national cultural policy. I am beginning to understand that it may have been a lot more difficult for the government to bring in this regressive American legislation on the magazine industry of this country if it had in place a national cultural policy.
I will quote again from the policy paper of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, which was released in June 1998, just one year ago. It makes a very important point. It asks the question:
Why do governments exist? What is the purpose that sustains them and gives them the moral and political grounding necessary to continue to function? The essence of the answer is sovereignty—the right of a nation to take charge of its own destiny and chart its own course through history.
According to the conference, sovereignty has three key components. The first is political sovereignty, a great deal of which we have given up in the course of the last couple of years in terms of how this place functions, how many times the government has brought in closure, how many times it has bypassed parliament, how many times it has said one thing and done another, and the list goes on.
According to the Canadian Conference of the Arts, another key component is economic sovereignty. We do not have to look too far to appreciate just how much we have sold off as a nation, how much we have given away, how much we have thrown to the wind in the interests of the globalized economy, in the interests of large multinational corporations which would like to have access to a completely unfettered marketplace without any barriers in their way, including such things as a national health care plan, which we used to have in this country, including such things as a universal pension plan, reasonable unemployment insurance, and I could go on to mention any number of areas.
There is a third key component of what it means to truly have what we all want and that is cultural sovereignty. The definition applied to that is:
The affirmation of the right of sovereign nations to foster and promote the creation, production, distribution and preservation of the works of the imagination in their many forms, or artifacts and objects of importance to the collective history of the citizenry of the nation state, through direct governmental measures.
I could add, through a proactive government, through a government that has the wherewithal and the political will to ensure that cultural sovereignty is preserved and is a reality.
The Canadian Conference of the Arts provides some very good words around just how important that is. It says in its report at page 8:
Cultural expression reflecting the common and diverse experiences, observations and aspirations of the citizens of a nation state is central to the creation and maintenance of a shared sense of identity and the promotion of understanding among diverse elements resident within the same political boundaries. Cultural expression builds a sense of common purpose and tolerance, and a respect for the differences inherent in peoples who have brought to the nation a wide array of distinctive traditions, values, and perceptions. Cultural expression fosters and expands the fundamental cohesive elements within a state.
I think that just about says it all in terms of why we on this side of the House are so concerned about the preservation and enhancement of Canadian culture and why we are so opposed to Bill C-55. We had an opportunity to use the tools of government to ensure that we create that sense of identity, that sense of tolerance, that expression of appreciation for all the diversity that makes up this nation and we blew it. In that typical scenario of the mouse beside the elephant we allowed ourselves to be squashed. Maybe it is more like the flea on the mouse sitting by the elephant. We allowed ourselves to be squashed, to be stamped out. We could have stood up to our American neighbours to the south.
I want to take us back a few years to 1986, 1987 and 1988. At that time I happened to be the minister of culture and heritage for the province of Manitoba. I, along with my colleagues in the provincial government of Manitoba, as well as many colleagues from different parts of the country, worked day in and day out to express our concerns about the proposed free trade agreement. We identified at that point that the free trade agreement would be dangerous, would be a barrier, would be devastating in our pursuit of the preservation of Canadian culture.
I hope Conservative members are listening. We were told at that time by the Brian Mulroney government of the day not to worry, there was an exemption for culture. We were told that we would never lose anything by way of cultural artistic expression in this country because there was a strong exemption which would prevent any kind of erosion as a result of American actions.
This government had a chance to test the cultural exemption in the free trade agreement and the NAFTA. It could have tested that exemption to stand firm on its earlier commitments and to show clearly that it was prepared to do everything possible to preserve Canadian culture. It caved in.
There was an indication from the WTO that Canada had a strong case. There was certainly all kinds of support from the cultural community in Canada. There were all kinds of legal arguments. There was all kinds of advice. There was all kinds of solid evidence to suggest that the government use that supposed, absolutely rock solid provision which would preserve Canadian identity, that exemption for cultural affairs in this country, and the government chose not to.
The result, as my colleague from Dartmouth said, is a sellout to the Americans. There is no question that Bill C-55, as amended by the Senate, according to the wishes of the Americans, particularly the giant media magazine corporations in the United States, is a sellout. Others have used the term cave in, but it is the same thing because we did have a choice.
In making the deal on magazines this government has shown that it is willing to sacrifice Canadian cultural policy without a fight. When the Americans come back with more threats against other cultural initiatives, whether it is Canadian content, ownership of our broadcasting industries, subsidizing the CBC or even our support for artists through the Canada Council, the precedent is set for us to cave in.
Instead of taking this opportunity, using that supposed wonderful exemption, fighting for and setting a precedent for all aspects of Canadian culture, the arts and creative enterprise, this government chose to cave in, just like we saw it do on the MMT issue. It could have stood and fought. It could have shown leadership and used the provisions that were available to make the case, but because it was threatened, because it was intimidated, because there was a question of retaliation, a question of suits, a question of financial compensation, the government chose to cave in before it had even fought the battle. The precedent is set.
Do members opposite not understand why we are so concerned about this bill? Do they not see where it might lead us? Do they not understand how dangerous this can be for the future?
It does not matter whether we are talking about culture, water or pharmaceuticals. Let us not forget what this government did when it caved in on pharmaceuticals. Liberals stood in the House before they formed the government in 1993 and said that Brian Mulroney was wrong to bring in Bill C-91, which extended patent protection to the pharmaceutical giants, because it would give profits to those big corporations and hurt the poor and the sick in this country. What did it do? It caved in to the giant pharmaceuticals.
Today this government is caving in to the giant American based magazine industry, and we will all pay the price. It is not too late for the government to reconsider, to understand that it is important to stand for Canadian culture. What we are talking about is our very identity, our very traditions around tolerance and acceptance of diversity and appreciation for struggling together for the common collective good.
I urge the government to reconsider. I urge it to stand for Canadian culture.