Mr. Speaker, on May 28 on behalf of many Canadians I asked the Prime Minister to investigate the concentration of ownership in the print media.
The Minister of Industry replied that there are no legal grounds for intervening on this issue. This is a very puzzling response. If I take this a step further, the federal government had no legal grounds to prosecute Canadians for paying for sex with minors in foreign countries, that is, until it passed legislation on the issue. If the Liberals have no legislation to assist in their investigation of the concentration of media ownership, they should pass some.
Freedom of the press is very important as is the public's right to know. When the newspapers and any other media are not in a competitive environment the fundamental principles of democracy are compromised. It is simply wrong that the Liberal government refuses to correct this situation.
The Bureau of Competition Policy quickly approved the mergers of these newspaper sales, but the minister knows that the Bureau of Competition Policy is ineffective. It has no mandate to investigate concentration of ownership. The bureau does not at this time have the power to look into the problems of having one individual owning 53 per cent of all daily newspapers and 42 per cent of the circulation across the country.
What Canadians need is a Canada newspaper act that would limit concentration of ownership of Canadian newspapers and encourage new newspapers to start. This new law would give Canadians more choice and would ensure more balanced news stories and editorials.
Print journalists play an important role in this country. They inform Canadians about what is happening in their governments, their communities and around the world. They also represent and present opinions. These are basic functions of newspaper journalists. They also have responsibilities. They have the responsibility of telling us what is really going on from a balanced perspective. It is an awesome responsibility that is carried out by the frontline reporters. They carry out their tremendous responsibility by interviewing people, researching issues and investigating stories. I applaud them in their efforts.
This line of work is not without risk. Around the world scores of journalists have been murdered carrying out their jobs. This is the price of effective reporting. Reporters strive to bring us the truth but they cannot do their jobs properly when newspaper budgets are slashed until one reporter is carrying out the work of three.
In the case of the Regina Leader-Post , there is no longer a full time reporter dedicated to the agricultural beat. This has happened in a province where agriculture is the very heart of the economy. This is not being accountable to the readers; this is only being accountable to the bottom line of the newspaper's owner, Conrad Black, who is interested in greater profits only.
Hollinger Inc. controlled by Conrad Black now controls 53 per cent of the daily newspapers in Canada. It means one individual is controlling the editorial content of 58 daily newspapers and dictating the activities of their reporters. As Peter C. Newman points out in Maclean's magazine: ``There isn't the slightest doubt that Mr. Black will use his 58 Canadian daily newspapers to promote his neo-conservative views,'' as he did with the Jerusalem Post just recently.
It is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that newspapers are carrying out their responsibilities. When news is suppressed or censored because of the prejudiced views of one person, then democracy is threatened. In turn, the federal government is not serving democracy well when it does nothing. Doing nothing means the Liberal government agrees with Conrad Black that the ownership of newspapers in this country should be concentrated and democracy should be compromised.
Why is this so? Why are the Liberals not acting? Is it because Conrad Black and the Prime Minister are good friends, as reported in the June 1 Globe and Mail ? Or is it simply because political contributions have been made to the Liberal Party for ignoring the concerns of Canadians on this issue? Which is it? Canadians want to know. Canadians have a right to know.