I certainly never think that federal government funding is a problem. I don't think it gets in the way. I think what we've created, however, is this huge patchwork of how we relate to organizations. The ability of some organizations to acquire federal government funding is very different from that of other organizations.
I have tried in my presentation today to stay away from individual organizational support. I could spend 10 hours talking to you about details, but I think the important thing we need to understand is that we do not have any kind of framework whatsoever in this country for working government as a whole, sector as a whole, and that's where we need to do our work. We need to continue to fund the kinds of activities that individual organizations do.
I don't think government gets in the way. To assume that government gets in the way and therefore to reduce funding, or for government to say we're not going to fund you and you have to fly on your own is grossly unfair. In a community like Calgary, the ability of organizations to attract revenue and donations is very different from the ability of organizations in Atlantic Canada.
I will give you one example. Corporations contribute only 1% of the funding to the non-profit sector in Atlantic Canada, compared to 3% across the country. That 3% is still not very high, but it's a huge gap—that 1% to 3%. Because Atlantic Canada has less ability to get funding from provincial and municipal governments, we are more reliant on the federal government. Yet, we generate more of our own income in this part of the country than anywhere else in Canada.
We need to find ways to help organizations be entrepreneurial when that's appropriate and to deliver services that are fully funded by government when that's appropriate.