Mr. Speaker, I posed a question earlier asking by what percentage the member and the other members in this place wanted to regulate what Canadians do. The member mentioned that under the content rules that he dealt with as a broadcaster, 30% of what was put on the air had to be of Canadian content. It is about regulation.
We have the number of 30%, for example, in the act. Maybe some of the people in this place would like to force people to watch, listen or perform more Canadian content.
If it is about regulation, which costs money, that poses a second question. Is $1 million enough? We spend more than that on it in this country and that would probably be a single episode of a single program. Is $10 million enough? We spend more than that in this country and that amount is probably good enough for an entire program. Is $100 million enough? That is probably enough to fund an entire station. Is $1 billion enough? That is what we spend for one channel in this country with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Is $10 billion enough? When we take into account all the various programs and the department that is associated with this, we spend probably about that.
Would they want $100 billion? It comes down to a cost as well in terms of this regulation. A money value is attached to it. It also has real repercussions. Artists, such as Bryan Adams, have left this country because Canadian content rules have forced their music to be overplayed, such that they will move to the United States just to avoid some of those overplay issues.
A money value is attached to this and there are consequences where we lose some artists due to these practices.