Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore.
It was wonderful to hear the speech by the member for New Westminster—Burnaby and see that there are anglophone MPs from British Columbia who speak impeccable French in the House. Today we saw anglophone members from all parties who are able to manage in French in the House. This is part of Canada's richness. We have people who come from one community, learn each other's language and love each other's culture. We are trying to flourish together in a country that is much bigger than a single province.
As for the dubbing issue, it is absolutely shocking that CBC chose a Parisian studio to do the dubbing. There are very talented people all over Canada. There has been a lot of talk about the industry in Quebec, but there is also an industry in Acadia and other parts of Canada. There are skilled francophones throughout Canada. There has been a lot of talk about the Quebec accent, but there is not just one Quebec accent. There are many different accents in Quebec. There are also francophone accents from all over the country. I think it is completely contradictory that CBC/Radio-Canada says it wants to promote French and support Canada's various cultural institutions but chose not to use a Canadian firm for the dubbing work.
I, too, completely agree that CBC/Radio-Canada management has some explaining to do. I saw Ms. Tait's appearances before the committee. I would like to ask her a number of questions, not only on this matter, but on a number of other issues as well.
There are definitely some problems with CBC/Radio-Canada management, but this institution is still very important, not only for francophone communities but also for all anglophone communities in Canada.
The CBC is an institution that helps unite this country. We can go back to La famille Plouffe from the 1950s, a show broadcast in both French and English. That allowed Canadians from all across the country to understand what was going on across Canada, and it bridged linguistic gaps that sometimes seem insurmountable.
There are francophone populations in Canada. Most of them are in Quebec, but they do exist across the country. I have visited francophone communities in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, even Saskatchewan and, certainly, here in Ontario. Radio-Canada is so important in those communities. Unlike in Montreal, where we have TVA and other networks and programs, in some parts of Canada, Radio-Canada is the only station they have.
The same is true for English-speaking Quebeckers who live outside the Montreal region. The Conservative Party's position to cut the English CBC means that English-speaking taxpayers across the country will be paying to have only the French service, not the English service. How long do we believe governments will sustain Radio-Canada when English-speaking taxpayers turn against having a network that only broadcasts in French as our national broadcaster?
More importantly, while Conservatives pretend they care about the English-speaking community of Quebec, this is just one example where they clearly are not thinking of English-speaking Quebeckers. Whether it is Saguenay, Gaspé, Côte-Nord, Rouyn-Noranda or Quebec City, there are many parts of Quebec where the CBC is the primary vehicle for English-speaking Quebeckers to get local news in English. They have no other local vehicle that does that.
If we were to cut all of the English services of the CBC, we would be depriving the English-speaking community of Quebec, 1.3 million people, all of those who live outside of Montreal, the chance of getting their news in English. How can any party support that position? Why should we pay taxes toward denying one language community a broadcast in their own language? Then there is the question of francophones outside of Quebec.
Outside Quebec, Radio-Canada and CBC share resources. People who produce French-language programs outside Quebec generally also do English-language work for CBC. It makes no sense to deprive all Radio-Canada offices outside Quebec of the vast majority of their resources. This policy should be changed. We should all be saying that Radio-Canada and CBC are important, not only for news broadcasting, but also for Canada's national unity.
I also want to deal with the question that the NDP brought up about bonuses. The question of whether to pay bonuses when employees are being cut is a very legitimate question. It is not wrong to ask those questions. It is not wrong to ask questions about whether Ms. Tait should get a bonus, given performance and all the issues about which we are talking. It is perfectly appropriate for the committee to have those discussions and to inform itself on that matter.