Sheila Copps

[National Unity, February 18th, 1997]

-which was such a hit with school principals that, within two weeks, we had received 3,000 telephone requests for kits from school principals, including 300 from Quebec.

[National Unity, February 18th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, at the cultural affairs ministers' meeting in Saskatchewan last year, one of the questions raised by the provincial ministers concerned the lack of availability of Canadian material for use in schools.

Last year, I had a kit prepared-

[Copyright, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, if I understood correctly, the hon. member wants me to say in the House that I do not want to see the amendments proposed by his colleague. If that is the case, the hon. member's logic escapes me.

I think this is a good example of why we should take the time to ensure that all the amendments are satisfactory, because the bill is very important to creators. We want to proceed, and we also want the hon. member to speak to his former colleagues in the Senate to ensure that once the bill has been adopted by the House of Commons, it will not be held up by the Conservatives in the Senate.

[Copyright, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, cabinet is unanimous on the importance of proceeding with a bill as vital as the copyright bill. About 70 amendments have been proposed in committee, and we hope to be able to table all new amendments in the House very shortly.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, programming at Radio-Canada is the exclusive responsibility of Radio-Canada.

That being said, we are delighted to hear that following representations by the FCFAC and president Michaud, and also by the hon. member for St. Boniface and a number of other members, Radio-Canada has decided to reconsider its decision to terminate programming of Ce soir . In fact, programming in Saskatchewan and Alberta would be maintained, which would have a direct impact on francophones in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, two facts have to be pointed out.

First, when we took over the government we were faced with a very difficult financial situation. Cuts were required which were absorbed in all departments of government and to a lesser extent in the cultural industries.

In fact, the CBC cut which caused a lot of pain and a lot of jobs represented 23 per cent of their budget as against 50 per cent of the Department of Natural Resources and 30 per cent of the Department of the Environment.

The second point that I hope the hon. member would reflect on is that this is the first time in the history of the fiscal framework that the CBC will be given a guarantee that it will receive a stable amount of funding for the next five years. That will permit planning a movement to an all Canadian network.

Contrast that commitment in the fiscal framework to the statement by the Reform Party that it would abolish CBC television, to the statement by the Conservative Party that it wants to get out of CBC television, and to the statement of the member for Rimouski-Témiscouata that there is too much fat in the CBC.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, clearly we had to make cuts in government. I would like to look for a moment at the cuts made to Radio-Québec. According to Le Soleil of August 20, 1995, half the employees at Radio-Québec were cut.

It is true cuts were made, but what we have said is that, as of next year, we will guarantee the CBC five years of stable funding up to a maximum of $900 million. We have made a firm commitment to the CBC, which none of the other parties has made, unfortunately.

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 11th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the figures quoted by the member opposite are incorrect.

We must not forget the remarks made by the member for Rimouski-Témiscouata on "Midi Quinze" regarding cuts to be made to the budget. She said: "If we are going to cut, there are major cuts to be made at the CBC". These were the remarks she made on March 16, 1995.

[Cultural Policy, February 7th, 1997]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

[Cultural Policy, February 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the question. I know in his capacity as the chair of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage he will be working very hard toward an overarching cultural policy.

Among the things we want to achieve this weekend are to listen to the leaders of the Canadian cultural community, to be open to change and at the same time to reinforce the fact that for the last 25 years we have built a strong critical mass of Canadian artists and Canadian success stories because of the policies we have introduced as a government.