Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was going to make a Member's statement about the media. I got carried away on the discussion on wildlife. Today I will just make a few comments about different editorials which have appeared over the last while.
I cannot claim to be a professional journalist, Mr. Speaker, but I have worked in that field. What I always remember about it, is a crusty old man telling me to go out and get the facts. We do not want your opinion, you are 20 years old, just get the facts and let other people make their opinion on the basis of what you write down. Also, you are not going to be a Shakespeare or a Mark Twain. You are not supposed to be creative, you are supposed to tell it the way it is, dig deep, so that when you write it down, you are writing the truth.
Mr. Speaker, from time to time over the past several years, I have seen all kinds of mistakes and I understand the problems associated with trying to get a newspaper out, and to meet deadlines. Sometimes you get the impression that when the editor tells the reporter to go out and get the stuff, it then becomes the editor's job to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Unfortunately, they decide from time to time to print the chaff instead of the wheat. That poses a real problem for many of us.
However, the press has a very important job to do and we should not underestimate it. It is very important that we do have a Member that stands up on a Point of Privilege and says "why did you not speak to me about this?" Get the real story, go to the source, get your information, check it once, check it twice, check it three times if you have to, but get it right. The more you do this, the more people pay attention to you.
For example, when I am told of the massive amount of money that I make in this business, I just laugh, because no one has ever gone to the Clerk and asked him how much money I make to do this job. However, you are quite in order. If you want to go and ask Mr. Hamilton exactly how much money I make, I can tell you, to quote another very famous creative person, " it is grossly exaggerated, the amount ...