Mr. Speaker, just 14 weeks ago, Leonard Asper of CanWest Global told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that “The newspapers in all of our markets, have been told time and again...that they are free to provide opposing editorial dissent”.
Mr. Asper then fired Russell Mills precisely for dissenting from the PMO-Asper line.
The government had proposed a panel to study media concentration when Conrad Black owned the Southam papers. That panel has been dropped.
Will the government inquire into the latest Asper abuse either by re-establishing that panel or by agreeing to a joint inquiry by the two houses of this parliament?