Thank you, Ms. Gagné.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for affording the COOP fédérée and the other Quebec cooperatives the opportunity to describe the experience of the Cooperative Investment Plan.
As Ms. Gagné said, the plan is an investment by members and employees. Any capital investment indicates that the financial lever it affords can generate three or four additional dollars of funding that the cooperatives can secure to ensure their development.
Statistics-wise, in the document you have before you, you will see $393 million, which was invested purely until 2006. The statistics were missing for 2007 and 2008. It should now be up to $450 million. That being said, if you multiply that by three, the leverage factor, it's $1.2 billion that was invested in all of the cooperatives that were eligible for the plan.
Let me recall also--and this is very important--that 75% of these investments were done in regions, in agricultural communities, the forestry sector, and of course in the manufacturing sector.
The cost of this plan, as estimated by the study that was recently submitted to you, is anything between $17 million and $20 million, or loss of taxation revenue. On the other hand, this plan would generate $120 million, at least, in investments all across the country, which of course creates more activity for the co-ops. It helps them buy equipment, diversify their activities, expand their activities, create more profits, and engage more employees.
That is the bottom line of the program. It has been evaluated by the Quebec authorities also. It is a winner all over the place, and that's why it has been kept for at least 24 years.
We can answer all of your questions. There are certain admissible cooperatives that we can speak to if need be. Thank you.