Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Selkirk—Interlake for an excellent speech. He told people how it is. I just want to follow up on what my friend said, because I think he was going down absolutely the right track.
I think Canadians used to have a lot of respect for the term liberalism in the classical sense at one point. One hundred years ago we had some respect for that. Do hon. members know what it stood for? It stood for limited government, one of the greatest human achievements of all time. It stood for free trade.
In fact, at the turn of the last century we know that the Prime Minister's own hero, Wilfrid Laurier, was pushing free trade. He was a free trade advocate. He believed in that because he was a liberal in the classical sense. They believed in personal freedom. That is what classical liberalism was.
I would argue that the Liberals across the way are so far from that today that they desecrate the memory of that type of liberalism. This government seems to believe that culture is what it chooses it to be, even though, as my friend pointed out, everybody has a different view of what culture is.
As I pointed out to my Conservative colleague down the road, if there are 30 million different views of what constitutes culture and Canadian identity, then who ends up choosing? Should it be each individual for himself or herself? I think it should be. That makes sense to me. Should it be bureaucrats who impose their values and vision on the rest of us and do it with our tax money? They take the money out of our pockets for what they believe is culture and we have to pay for it. We then have spectacles like Bubbles Galore being produced, a lesbian porno film that the rest of us have to pay for. That is absolutely ridiculous.
I cannot believe my friend over there is laughing and thinks it is funny. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the Liberals would defend that so-called vision of culture.
I would argue that this party has changed to the point where it cannot be recognized anymore. The classical Liberals of 100 years ago are spinning in their graves when they consider how interventionist this government has become.
I simply want to point out that in the period when we had real classical liberalism throughout the world in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, we saw an unprecedented advancement in human happiness when governments were limited. For millennia, we had toiled under governments that imposed their own will upon the people and taxed them as they saw fit. There was no freedom.
We then saw an outbreak of freedom, going back into the 17th century. It grew and grew through the 18th and 19th centuries. We saw tremendous advancements in human happiness. We saw people become wealthier. We saw standards of living go up. We saw people become healthier. We saw people live to a much older age because there was more food and health care.
Then, in the 20th century somehow we lost sight of what it was that had happened and what the root was of all this prosperity. We started to build up these big governments again. I would argue that the bloodiest of all centuries has been the 20th century precisely because we somehow forgot the lessons of those previous centuries and started to embrace big government. We had huge government, Utopian-type governments. We had national socialism in Germany and we had communism in the Soviet Union. It was bloody and it was hell on earth for many people.
I am not suggesting this government is like that, not at all. I am suggesting that it forgets what it is that gave us all that prosperity and that today it is still the root of the prosperity, to the degree that this government allows it to show its face. I am talking about those principles I talked about before: limited government, free trade, personal freedom. Those are great things but we cannot simply say that we want to have personal freedom on Monday, but that on Tuesday, when we are dealing with culture, that we do not really want to have that because we have a better idea of what constitutes culture. I reject that.
I say that the Liberals do not have a better idea. I say that each individual has to make that decision. That is why I reject Bill C-55 on principled ground. It is a violation of the freedom of speech. It is a violation of our right to trade freely and exchange goods and services on a voluntary basis. It is ridiculous that we have the nanny state intervening and telling us what we can watch when we have to pay for it. I think it is absolutely crazy, but that is what the government defends every day.
When the government does this, I believe it desecrates the memory of classical liberalism and what it used to mean to be a real liberal in that classical sense.
I want to talk a little about some of the specifics of this legislation. I want to argue, just on a pragmatic basis, that to enter into this legislation was perhaps one of the most ridiculous, stupid political moves I have ever seen in my life. We live in a country that is very dependent on free trade, especially with the Americans, with whom our trade is worth over $1 billion every day.
What do we do? We basically poke them in the eye with a sharp stick and say that we want to defend this undefined nebulous concept called culture which means something completely different to everyone else. In doing that we are going to jeopardize this trade that we do every day and the millions upon millions of jobs that go with it.
Did the government for a moment consider that? Apparently not. It wandered into this and suggested that this nebulous concept of culture is more important than food on the table and jobs for many people. Of course, the Americans were not blind to this. They said that they would retaliate in areas like steel and plastics. Interestingly, steel is the industry we see very much of in the heritage minister's riding. As a result of that the government started to back away when it saw that the Americans were fighting hard.
I do not believe that this is an issue of backing away from the Americans. To the contrary, I believe what this issue is ultimately about is the belief that Canada can compete without protection in any field. We do not need the nanny state telling us what to do and protecting us. We can compete because we are as good as or better than the Americans and everyone else. Our people are just as competent. No, they are more competent. I believe that. I am sad that this Liberal government does not believe it.
I am sad that the Liberals do not respect their heritage, from where they came 100 years ago when they used to believe in those sorts of things. They have given that up. They have bought into this inferiority complex that has become a national joke. I think it is sick. I am embarrassed that the Liberals sit across the way and laugh about this. They smirk. I think it is absolutely ridiculous. They should be embarrassed.
We are approaching Canada Day. Some day I would like to see a Canada Day when we do not have to have all these regulations, barriers and so-called protections for the government's narrow little definition of culture. We are grown up enough to stand on our own two feet.
I am ashamed that this government would do this. I just wish we had enough people on this side to stop this ridiculous legislation.