Sure. Thank you for the opportunity to answer this question.
Our corporation, if I do say so myself, is one of the largest single players in economic development in the Thousand Islands. That is specifically thanks to the Government of Canada for the investment it has made into our corporation.
I've been in the position of executive director for 12 years, and I worked for the organizations for eight years prior to that. Our impact in terms of immediate direct investment in our community approaches $4 million per year. Somewhere in the order of $3 million per year we give in loans to local businesses. We work with 80 to 100 businesses per year. Many of them receive loans, but a number of them also receive technical assistance and work with our investment managers and counsellors to help them along their way in business. We also have about $800,000 to $900,000 a year available to invest in community development projects, and that's through the eastern Ontario development program that Mr. Brown was so instrumental in securing for us.
The amount of money that we invest in business and economic development is large. I can tell you that over the last 10 years—because we just looked at these numbers—our organization was responsible, in some part, in assisting or creating over 3,000 jobs. It is a significant organization that has significant impact.
With respect to the name of the Thousand Islands, when Mr. Brown asked if I would speak today, I went to speak to a couple of our chambers. I specifically wanted to know what their interpretation of this bill might be. I asked them how many of their tourism operators would benefit from something like this and how many would be supportive of this bill. The answer from all three chambers of commerce that I contacted was the same: all of their tourism operators would benefit from this, and all of them would be supportive.
It's consistent with the work that we do with our clients. The message is important. The name is important. Identification is important. How you position yourself matters. As I said in my presentation, just doing a flip through the local telephone directories there is page after page of “Thousand Islands”, and very, very few of “St. Lawrence”, and only one “St. Lawrence Islands”.
The name is significant for all of these reasons.