Canadian Heritage  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It is nice to hear a good question. For the first time in more than 10 years, the government is investing more in festivals and celebrations. We have invested $40 million in festivals big and small. This funding will in large p

Canadian Heritage  Mr. Speaker, fortunately, I started working on this issue before my colleague asked his question. I have met with a number of Quebec producers on this issue. Culture is very important to us, especially TV and film. We have always been there for them and always will be. I will h

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act  moved that Bill C-98, An Act to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and the Canada Border Services Agency Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are playing a very dangerous game. We know that the newspaper industry has been suffering for 10 years. We know that 41 dailies have closed their doors. We know that about 10,000 jobs have been lost. The Conservatives think that all journalists can

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, again, this is a dangerous game. The Conservatives are saying that the journalists can be bought in our country and we strongly disagree with that. Journalism is one of the pillars of our democracy. We should be there to support it, instead of attacking like the Con

Government Policies  Mr. Speaker, the real threat is the Conservative Party and what we just heard. The threat is the suggestion that journalists can be bought. These people built their careers on integrity, professionalism, neutrality and facts. The Conservatives are saying that these people can be

Government Policies  Mr. Speaker, when the panel was created, including representatives from across the industry was essential. The panel is made up of people from newsrooms, newspaper owners, worker advocates, journalists, ethnic media and francophone communities. It is a balance. That is not the r

News Media Industry  That is a direct attack on our journalists, Mr. Speaker. Our colleague had a very long career in journalism. I am sure he acted very professionally, independently and neutrally. I am sure he did a great job. Therefore, why does he not show the same respect to our journalists who

Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague that the Conservatives did absolutely nothing for an entire decade. I commend him for pointing that out. With regard to the other part of his question, we have been working for a long time to set up a program to support professio

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, the Conservatives are playing a very dangerous game. They are attacking the media. They are saying that our journalists can be bought. Yesterday, they said that our journalists were for sale. Instead of supporting professional journalism, they ar

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, if they want to talk about the CBC, let us talk about the CBC. The Leader of the Opposition just said that he would like to dictate to the CBC how it covers its stories, how it tells its stories. That is totally unacceptable. When he was asked if he would cut the CBC

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, it is quite something to hear that from a Conservative who wants to get rid of the CBC and control how it covers the news. Once again, the Conservatives are playing a dangerous game by attacking professional journalists and calling them fossils. We, on the other ha

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, what we need is a panel that is both independent and representative of the entire industry. Yes, it takes employers and people from newsrooms, but it also takes people who represent workers, people who represent journalists, people who represent minority communities

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, once again the Conservatives are playing a dangerous game. They are attacking the media. They are attacking the independence of journalists. I have been very clear since day one that everything will be transparent. Instead of attacking professional journalists, the

News Media Industry  Mr. Speaker, unlike the Conservatives, we do not want only CEOs around the table. We need the workers and the journalists. We want francophones, anglophones and members from the ethnic media. We want everybody to be represented, because this is something extremely important. In t