Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for all Canadians to square the arguments of the parliamentary secretary that somehow Conservatives are supporting CBC, but yet there are these massive cuts at a time when CBC is most needed.
Most experts have said, and the CBC itself has said, that it needed extra money to fulfill its mandate, a mandate which was given to it by Parliament. CBC's request was rejected. It was a very reasonable request and very sound way forward. It was a request for bridge financing. It did not ask for a permanent increase in its funding. It asked for bridge financing to get through a difficult time, to make sure that it could appropriately carry out its mandate. The government refused that.
Instead, the parliamentary secretary likes to go back in time and not accept his responsibilities or his government's responsibilities for the actions the government is taking today. I would ask him to stand up for the CBC, stop the cuts, do not gut it and do not sell it.