Mr. Speaker, the perspective which Canadians have on Canadian culture is one of the things that makes Canadians and Canada uniquely diverse and distinct. If we ask Canadians what their definition is of culture, we are going to hear a significant breadth and depth of perspective on that issue.
I would agree with the member for Medicine Hat that culture is a difficult issue to define. It is interesting that we are having in the House of Commons perhaps an unprecedented discussion between two finance critics about culture. It really frightens me about where we are going.
Culture is very difficult to define. We have a significant amount of indigenous culture in my home province of Nova Scotia which has been successful in global markets. I would like to say that part of it is completely market driven, but often the incubation of that cultural entity is provided with some level of protection.
We have in Canada a very small population which is spread over a huge land mass. This is also part of the national unity issue, about which I remain very concerned. The ability for us to maintain some level of distinctiveness may be one of the threads which keeps the country and the regions together.
I do not think any country in the world can define culture in a paragraph or in a sentence. Most countries are interested in, devoted and dedicated to protecting some element of culture. As we get into a more global environment, as we see the decline of the role of the nation state in terms of the government's influence slowly declining and economies being integrated, it makes it increasingly important for citizens and for nations to protect their cultural entities and identities. This is very important to people. People want to participate in global trade opportunities and we can.
The U.S. agreed in both the NAFTA and the free trade agreement to a set of conditions and a set of instruments to respond to this kind of debate and specifically to protect culture. My argument and my party's argument is that they were included specifically and the government has not utilized those mechanisms.
Censorship is going to be another issue that we will have to watch very closely, as well as privacy issues, especially with the evolution of the Internet. All of these things are evolving. I would say that it is best for us to have discussions here and to collectively develop solutions. We should certainly not turn our back on Canadian culture, as nebulous as it may be. We should seek to understand culture and perhaps to define it better, but we should never stop protecting what is unique about this country and our cultural distinctiveness.