Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to everyone who came to Montreal.
Since this is our last day of consultations, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee staff, who helped us all week, be it the people sitting at the table, the interpreters or the people responsible for logistics. Our staff has done an excellent job, and thanks to them we were able to travel through Canada and Quebec to meet with the people and to better understand their reality.
The situation Mr. Thibaudeau described was quite striking, interesting and real. In fact, it deeply affected me, because my parents live close to Saint-Donat, in the forest near a tall mountain. When I visit my father, he never fails to mention that he is “sick” of low-speed Internet and that if he wants to speak on his cellphone, he has to stand near the window, on tiptoe while smiling and without moving his head.
To a large extent, people have to deal with real problems. I also liked the parallel you drew when you said that Canadians have to be present everywhere throughout the land. It was as if the idea came to me spontaneously, and I had to smile when you talked about the frigates we are buying to protect our sovereignty in the Arctic, when in fact what we need to do to be present everywhere is to help people live and stay in their communities.
You did not ask for any specific or concrete measures in your brief. But we need your help to make recommendations which will be contained in the report we will present to the House. We hope the minister will read it. What would you like to see in this report? Do you need grants, tax credits or incentives? What would you like us to do?