Madam Speaker, it is clear that we need a significant level of tax reform and tax reduction.
The member referred to a specific tax under the Liberal government. I in fact was not aware of that tax and I appreciate his bringing that to my attention. Relative to his citing one specific incident or evidence of spending, the history of Chilean poets in Montreal, I am not aware of that specific investment. However, since Pericles and ancient Athens, civilized societies have invested in culture. Whether he believes that the history of Chilean poets in Montreal is relevant or irrelevant, it becomes a very dicey question to determine whether one cultural investment is worthy or one is not. To try to discern whether that is worthy borders on censorship.
I can point to many ways, particularly relative to the ministry of HRDC, where the government has continued to play the old game of picking winners and losers and ultimately doing what politicians do best in terms picking more losers than winners and interfering in the private sector in the course of that. I would argue that while there may be some sensationalist benefit to identifying specific cultural investments, the substantive waste in HRDC is probably a more reasonable target for the hon. member to cite.
I also urge him to consider that there are some elements of culture that simply will not be privately funded and from which there is a collective benefit to investing in Canada. While I cannot comment on that specific example because I have not studied it, as a Canadian I do value the fact that we have an extremely diverse culture that contributes significantly to the cultural mosaic of our country. That the government does play a role in the infrastructure of that is a valued tradition that Canadians in my riding and elsewhere value.