Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank my colleague in the governing party, the member for Fredericton, for his comments and recognize that he was somewhat critical of the throne speech. It was nice to see a member from that side of the House have the gumption to speak out on what he believes to be failures within that speech.
He mentioned the lack of support for the CBC. I know in the past few days we heard of appointments to CBC by someone whom we felt would probably undermine CBC, if not set it up for further problems. It is good to hear that there is a member on the other side who is willing to push for greater support for the CBC, as well as regional support for CBC.
It is without question one of the greatest ties the country has had to bring us together. From the time that we were young people on the Prairies, we grew up respecting the culture and heritage of eastern Canada from numerous programs that we watched throughout the year as well as programs from the west coast. I think CBC was as much to Canada as was the railroad. It is crucially important that we continue to recognize that. As we grow as a country it is beneficial to have CBC there as part of that growth. I just want to congratulate him on his comments.