Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I welcome Minister Baird and his team. I appreciate that you're here this morning. Congratulations as well for making the reference to “from coast to coast to coast”. That doesn't always happen. Usually references throughout this country are just “from coast to coast”.
I'm also pleased that several of our colleagues this morning have made reference to Newfoundland and Labrador. I'm going to take advantage of that and speak to what I think is a shortcoming with respect to the stimulus funding and the whole idea of matching funds.
I know you said communities are not having difficulty coming up with their one third, or whatever portion they have to come up with, but that certainly would not be the case in a fair number of rural communities, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador and, I expect, in rural Canada. Have you given any thought to recognizing that this is a problem for a number of rural communities?
I'll give you an example, one that you and I have discussed before, and that is Fortune on the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador. The harbour is owned by Transport Canada, but they have a desperate need to have that harbour dredged; otherwise boats just aren't going to be able to get into that harbour. It's the economic engine of the community and the entire Burin Peninsula, to some degree, with the fish plant and the fact that it's the gateway to the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. I was disappointed that this wasn't part of the announcement that was made for Newfoundland and Labrador. I appreciate that you deal with provincial governments on the issue, but you and I know the community of Fortune has appealed to you directly. There is no way that Fortune will ever be able to come up with a percentage of matching dollars.
How do you expect a community like Fortune, which is dealing with a problem in terms of property owned by Transport Canada...? If the government doesn't move to do something about it, we're going to see the community die.