Mr. Speaker, yesterday I denounced the CBC's attitude toward francophone artists. I will go one better today because the CBC decided to cut images of all francophone artists from the broadcast two months ago. In fact, that is why Martin Duchesne, a Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame board member and the Quebec bureau chief, stepped down.
He said that in previous years the francophone broadcasters were told to keep away from the anglophone broadcasters and keep their speeches short. The artists had to leave an empty chair between francophones and anglophones for the sole purpose of editing images out of the broadcast. This event was planned and structured to eliminate francophone artists from the televised gala.
What is even more appalling in this entire affair is that not a single member of Parliament from Quebec, except those from the Bloc Québécois, stood up in this House to denounce the CBC's shameful attitude toward francophones.