Mr. Speaker, as I just said to his colleague in French, the CBC has the funds necessary to fulfill its mandate in the Broadcasting Act and to continue with its 2015 plan.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 56% of the vote.
CBC/Radio-Canada April 5th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as I just said to his colleague in French, the CBC has the funds necessary to fulfill its mandate in the Broadcasting Act and to continue with its 2015 plan.
CBC/Radio-Canada April 5th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, Radio-Canada/CBC has the necessary funding to fulfill its mandate under the Broadcasting Act. What is more, it has the necessary funding to continue its 2015 plan, which includes the necessary funding to continue to protect francophone and anglophone culture in every region of our country. That was a promise we made in the last election campaign, and we have kept that promise.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation April 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, in our budget, the CBC has sufficient funds to fulfill its mandate under the Broadcasting Act. It also has the funds needed for its 2015 plan.
If my hon. colleague opposite believes the government should adopt a Liberal approach to the CBC, here is what was said about the Liberal approach to the CBC by the Toronto Star. It said, “CBC has been treated shabbily by the Liberal government, downsized, underfunded, abandoned”. The Liberals cut the CBC by $414 million. If they want this government to adopt the Liberal position—
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation April 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, in fact, the member opposite has it exactly wrong. I would encourage my hon. colleague to look at the speech that was given by Hubert Lacroix, president of the CBC, which outlines it in greater detail.
Our budget provides the funds necessary for the CBC to fulfill its obligations under the Broadcasting Act and to go further to implement its 2015 plan for the next few years of the CBC, which includes staying in the regions, protecting its official language footprint, more digitization and also to have a leaner public broadcaster that serves the interest of not only of the cultural communities but also of taxpayers.
Arts and Culture April 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Ottawa—Orléans for his fantastic work in support of the arts. We believe that a strong economy will lead to a strong arts sector and budget 2012 speaks to that, as did our previous budgets.
Eric Dubeau, co-president of the Canadian Arts Coalition, said, “This budget is encouraging for the arts and culture community. We feel the government has heard us regarding the importance of arts and culture for the economy and the creation of jobs”.
Simon Brault, president of Culture Montréal and the vice-chair of the Canada Council for the Arts said, “This budget is a clear signal of support for the arts. Canadians are incredibly proud of our artists and what they create in this...”—
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation March 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, with regard to the budget item, he will have to wait until 4 o'clock to see the budget.
With regard to his broader question about supporting Canadian culture, this government is the only government in the G20 that made a decision as part of our economic action plan not to cut, not to maintain, but to increase funding for arts and culture. We have created two new national museums. We have created the Canada media fund. We have increased our support to the Canada Council for the Arts by 20% to their record level.
Our government has delivered for arts and culture in a way that no other government in the world can say that it has.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation March 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, first of all, regarding the substance of the question, the member will have to wait until 4 p.m. for the budget.
As this is the member's first question in the House of Commons, on behalf of all members of the House, I welcome him to the House as the new member for Toronto—Danforth.
Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act March 29th, 2012
Madam Speaker, I just want to express my appreciation of the measured speech and tone from my friend, the member for Halifax West on the subject of free trade.
I would certainly rebut what he had to say with regard to our government's engagement with the United States. He knows that since the May 2 election campaign, our government has extended the softwood lumber agreement, the lumber agreement that the Liberals had lapse on their watch without actually engaging in renewed negotiations. We renewed it and now we have extended it by two years.
We have gone beyond that with our beyond borders program that the Prime Minister announced with President Obama prior to the Christmas break, the most deepening steps we have taken to further liberalize our trade agreement with the United States, from FTA, NAFTA and now the beyond borders agreement.
Our border infrastructure program has put more money into border crossings than ever before in this country's history. We are also now expanding, as the hon. member knows, the second span across from Windsor to Detroit.
Our government has invested heavily, because we recognize and we believe in creating Canadian jobs through world sales. We understand that the important relationship with the United States, the most successful trading relationship in the history of the world, is something to covet, to cherish and to build upon responsibly for the interests of Canadians.
We are doing that with all these agreements, all these investments and the approach we are taking, so I would certainly hope he would agree with me that we have taken seriously our responsibility to have a healthy relationship with the United States, and further, that he would agree that the constant antagonism to the United States by the official opposition is entirely unhealthy to the Canadian economy.
Youth March 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we have a strong record in supporting kids and that will continue.
My colleague will have to wait for the budget tomorrow, but I know that he is very anxious to please Canadians. I think the best way for him to please Canadians would be on Saturday night when he gets into the ring, if he keeps his hands nice and low and keeps his chin nice and high, he will be giving Canadians the greatest show we have been waiting for.
Air Canada March 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, of course, the law must be obeyed. That is why the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities made an announcement just before question period.
In all areas, whether we are talking about Aveos, Air Canada or the entire economy, our government's economic action plan, from the beginning of the recession up to this point, and into the future, will continue to be an approach that will protect jobs in all regions of the country.