Mr. Speaker, there is a French expression to describe my colleague's speech: he is out in the field. He is way out in left field. He is a member of a government that has made drastic cuts to culture. The Conservatives cancelled the PromArt and Trade Routes programs and at least a dozen others. They never lifted a finger, not even once, to help the CBC. They say they have increased its budget but that is completely false. They have not given one cent more. The only increase was the 1.5% allocated by Treasury Board. Therefore, their claim is completely false. Someone mentioned an additional $60 million, which is also not true.
We know that the members of this government have said, over and over for the past 10 years, that they want to abolish the CBC. I ask them today, is this a brazen attempt to use the current economic crisis as a pretext for doing what they have always wanted to do, that is, to axe the corporation?