Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech my colleague from Timmins—James Bay just gave, and I agree completely with him that we must protect Canadian culture, but I feel even more strongly about protecting Quebec culture and francophone culture, especially in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
I would like to comment on something my colleague from Timmins—James Bay said and ask him whether I am right. In particular, I would like to respond to the parliamentary secretary, who, by the way, never addresses the Chair, but speaks directly to the members. I just wanted to point that out.
On October 29, 18 artist and cultural business groups called on the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages to use her power to refocus the CRTC on its primary mission. When the parliamentary secretary says that the heritage minister does not have the right to intervene, this is not entirely true, because if the organization in question is not complying with the legislation that created it or the policy directions issued to it by Parliament, it is Parliament's duty to act and bring the organization into line.
There is another reason this debate is essential today. I have here 10 recent CRTC decisions. The stated objective of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is to reduce regulation to the essential minimum and rely on market forces wherever possible. I repeat: to reduce regulation to the essential minimum and rely on market forces wherever possible.
This means that, from now on, the CRTC does not want any more regulation. As my colleague said, the CRTC wants to allow almost anything from anywhere on our airwaves, and not necessarily content produced in Quebec, Toronto or the rest of Canada. As a result, just about anything produced just about anywhere will increasingly be allowed on our airwaves. This will kill both Quebec culture and Canadian culture.
Am I right in saying that?