Mr. Speaker, it is important to state from the outset that our government is committed to providing a strong Canadian broadcasting system. Regional content is obviously important. That is why we are saying today that we support the opposition motion in principle.
However, there is more to TV stations and regional broadcasting than just the news, in response to my colleague's question. When it comes to the culture of Canada, it has many different aspects. It is true that television and television content, local news content, is all part of the picture, but there is a larger picture at play as well.
Certainly with these smaller regional television stations, there is a bottom line that must be considered as well. They strive to provide local news content, and local content, but they must also provide Canadian content in their programming. I do not think it would be fair to say that they must do so no matter what the cost, or that they must do so without regarding their bottom line, because some of these are small or medium size businesses that have to take into consideration the financial aspects of their decisions.
Therefore, in general I would say yes, the government supports local and regional broadcasting and the capability to produce and deliver the news from the local perspective. However, we must also respect that the CRTC has a mandate, and that that mandate is arm's length from the government and that it would be inappropriate for the government to give direction to the CRTC.
In fact, that has been echoed by Liberal members today. The Liberal member who spoke just before my colleague admitted exactly that, that we are here to express our intent, to express our ideas, to express what is important to us, but we also must respect the mandate of these arm's length organizations and what Parliament has invested in them, because Parliament has invested certain responsibilities in these organizations.