Madam Speaker, I am very proud to rise to present a petition signed by the good people of the north from Timmins, Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls and Monteith. They are concerned about the crisis in funding at the CBC and the complete failure of the federal government to work to secure the public broadcaster.
We have seen major job losses across northern Ontario. The ability of the public broadcaster to reflect a vast region of the country has been severely compromised because of the government's refusal to work on a bridge financing plan. The petitioners point out that the bridge financing plan presented to the government would not have cost the taxpayers a single cent.
We see the federal government's ongoing hostility to the public broadcaster in Canada. It is certainly upsetting to the people of northern Ontario who are dependent upon CBC for their radio coverage.
The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to push the government to start living up to some of its basic obligations to ensure a vital and strong public broadcaster in this country.