The following is an excerpt from the official translation of a speech delivered by Leader of the Opposition Stéphane Dion at the annual conference of the Association des Producteurs de Films et de Télévision du Québec in Quebec City on April 29.

In October 2003, when I accompanied the Governor General of Canada on her state visit to Russia, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Les invasions barbares [The Barbarian Invasions] in front of a full house. What struck me the most that evening, apart from the Moscow audience's standing ovation at the end of the film, was the relevance of the questions they asked [the movie's director and producer] Denys Arcand and Denise Robert after the screening. This Russian audience seemed to be intimately familiar not only with the work of Arcand, but also with Quebec's culture and society, thanks to our films. As a result, they became friends of Canada, and were more likely to listen to other messages we might have for them, whether of a political, economic or other nature.

I still remember that evening today, and I recall how proud I was to be so effectively represented by a Quebec artist. I firmly believe that if we want Canada to be present, admired and influential on the world stage, and if we want all Canadians to be able to benefit from this presence, then it is important that our dreams, our visions, our stories and our creators - in a word, our culture - be clearly on display.

This explains why, when the Conservative government eliminated the Public Diplomacy Program that promoted our artistic creations abroad and at the same time contributed to our diplomatic efforts, I swore not only to restore the program, but to increase funding for international promotion of the arts. Yes, a Liberal government will make cultural promotion an important aspect of Canada's activities abroad. And it will do so by immediately reinstating the $23 million slashed by Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

Likewise, here in Quebec City, my home town, at a time when the motion picture Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 2 has just generated a million dollars at the box office in 10 days, at a time when the Canadian film Blindness has just been selected to open the Cannes Film Festival, at a time when another Canadian film, Atom Egoyan's Adoration, has just been included in the official competition in Cannes, and when our audiovisual creative efforts have been making their mark in so many different ways, I take great pride in being the guest speaker at the annual congress of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec. Thank you for this honor.

But the question that needs to be asked is why, precisely when there are so many challenges to be met, such as the strong Canadian dollar and the decreased leverage of public funds for audiovisual production, is why in addition to all that, must you be saddled with the threat of censorship?

And this is being done in such a covert manner, buried in a 600-page omnibus bill, Bill C-10! The House of Commons missed it completely. It was only discovered in committee in the Senate. Only a few words! A Canadian film or video production certification would only be issued if: "the Minister is satisfied that...public financial support of the production would not be contrary to public order." Otherwise, the tax credit could be taken away, even retroactively. It's back to Duplessis! Censorship and financial asphyxia: what lender would take the risk of investing in a film when its tax credit could be withdrawn at a later date because the minister is unhappy about it? This could happen here in Canada. What would we look like? Like the small village in the film Cinema Paradiso. That's what!