Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague from Bourassa who brought forward this motion, and also my hon. colleague from Honoré-Mercier who spoke to it.
Before I get into a question, this is less about regulations and arm's length organizations and less about the technicalities of the Broadcasting Act. This is more about the general philosophy behind what it is we are trying to accomplish here. To explain what I mean by that, I will use an example from my own area.
In Newfoundland and Labrador right now, we have two provincial newscasts, both of which are successful for the simple reason that it is more than just general news and information in the standard sense, as we would see in a national broadcaster.
What we do see is a crossroads and a way to communicate within all regions in the province. It is a crossroads for our culture. It is a crossroads that we depend on and because of that, it becomes a responsibility. It is a responsibility for those who endeavour to get into the broadcasting business that they will receive certain protections culturally for their businesses so that they can broadcast, but at the same time, this responsibility must be adhered to. That is the only way. With the proliferation of mass communications, the way it stands nowadays, let us face it, we do not tune into news as much as we used to; we actually download news now. We are in an era of satellite communications where it becomes one source. That local, regional aspect of broadcasting and information sharing, that crossroads of our culture, becomes muted and diminished.
Therefore, it is a responsibility of the Government of Canada, through its arm's length organization, to make sure that this enterprise has a responsibility to inform, to enlighten and to make sure that we are all connected.