Online News Act  Madam Speaker, when a journalist loses their job in a region like Côte-Nord, it is not just serious, it is tragic. The news that comes from community media or other small regional media outlets, which are often newsrooms run on a shoestring budget, is vital. It is these news media outlets, which are often run by passionate people covering three or four jobs in the radio station or the small local newspaper, that transmit critical news to residents.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, it was very brave of you to ask my colleague from Winnipeg North to ask a very brief question, but he managed it, and I congratulate him. My answer will be brief. I do not know. We will never know, because of the time allocation motion adopted earlier. I would have liked to give democracy a chance over the next few days to extend the debate into Thursday or Friday.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Bow River because he is a staunch defender of small media outlets and the regional media, the local papers he talks about so passionately. He did a great job of defending them and representing them during the committee study.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I think that every form of journalism that respects the fundamental rules of integrity, independence, meticulousness and respect for people and sources is essential. In-depth reporting by investigative journalists striving to dig deeper into the stories is also essential, and we need to keep it alive as well.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague. I too enjoy the work we do and our close collaboration at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Most of the time, our work has been constructive. There is a reason journalism and news are called the fourth estate. The news media has a duty and an important role to play in society.

Online News Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to pick up where we left off last night. I have to say I was a little disappointed. We had a great opportunity to debate Bill C‑18 last night, but we were cut off at about 6:30 p.m. in the middle of my speech. I had about 12 minutes to go.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to come back to the minister's heated reaction. We know he is quite a passionate man and that this bill is important to him, but I believe he misunderstood the meaning of my question earlier. I really want to refocus my question on the concept of a closure motion.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I really do not like that they are imposing time allocation. I think it is an insult to democracy and parliamentary privilege. That said, I do not agree with my Conservative colleague who said that people were not heard in committee when it studied Bill C‑18. I think everyone spoke to that bill.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, there is never a dull moment in the House. It truly is incredible. There is always some event or other that grabs our attention. I am very happy Bill C‑18 has reached this stage. I am happy, but I can promise my colleagues that there are an awful lot of people at media outlets in my riding and pretty much everywhere in Quebec, not to mention everywhere across Canada, based on our conversations with stakeholders, that will let out a big sigh of relief when we finally pass Bill C‑18.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Lethbridge for her brief speech. She spoke a lot about the fact that Bill C‑18 offers nothing positive for smaller media outlets, weeklies or newspapers. Oddly enough, however, over the course of our study, the most vocal proponents of this bill were people like Pierre-Elliott Levasseur, president of La Presse, and Benoît Chartier and Sylvain Poisson of Hebdos Québec, an organization representing about 150 Quebec weeklies.

Online News Act  Madam Speaker, my Conservative colleague's question gives us some idea of the mood and the positions taken in the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage during its work on Bill C‑18. It was pretty specific and pretty clear. Throughout this study, the web giants went to great lengths to tell us that news was not that valuable to their businesses.

Michel Désautels  Mr. Speaker, there should be a Radio-Canada voice hall of fame. It would be a sound hall of fame, of course. It would feature the voices of Bernard Derome, René Lecavalier, Richard Garneau, Pierre Nadeau, as well as Myra Cree, Judith Jasmin and countless others. If there were a hall of fame, the newest inductees would be Joël Le Bigot and Michel Désautels.

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, 1,300 people learned yesterday that they would be losing their jobs at Bell Media. Six radio stations are going to stop broadcasting. When even a giant like Bell can no longer protect its media and newsrooms, the situation is dire. The entire news industry and the people who work in it are all under threat.

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, layoffs at Bell Media are a sign of growing pessimism even among the telecom giants. We can only imagine how the smaller industry players feel. Will current federal programs and the compensation flowing from Bill C‑18 really be enough to ensure the survival of the news?

60th Anniversary of Éditions du Boréal  Mr. Speaker, for 60 years now, the Éditions du Boréal publishing house has been magnificently showcasing Quebec authors, writers and historians. Gilles Boulet, Pierre Gravel, Jacques Lacoursière, Denis Vaugeois and Bishop Albert Tessier founded the Boréal Express in 1963. It would go on to publish an impressive collection of historical works from the front row of the Quiet Revolution and the social changes that were the driving force in Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s.