This reminds me of the film the Great Seduction. I do not know wether you have seen it, but this is just the kind of situation it describes.
We must also mention what is going on in certain areas with resources. The crisis in forestry in Quebec has given rise to a new phenomenon. There are regions with resources where, quite often , over the years, big companies were relied upon to develop resources in the area, and this is how cities were built.
There are real tragedies unfolding at this time, in some of these regions. Just yesterday, Norsk Hydro announced that it was closing its Bécancour plant. This is given rise to some tragic situations. Of course, my colleague was right in saying that all the noise made by the media is not helping at all to make these regions more attractive.
However, there are other, more encouraging examples: the region of Drummondville, Trois-Rivières, Gaspe, are entering into a new phase with the development of wind farms. New projects can be created in such regions,.
There is also the issue of the next generation of SME entrepreneurs. Our SMEs will enter into a new phase within the coming ten or fifteen years. Our SME entrepreneur population is also aging. This gives the younger generation a chance to take over the management of those regional companies. I think that if we build our projects around an economy that is more geared to smaller enterprises, we can enable the regions to stand on their own feet, this seems obvious. I think that we should be looking at the positive examples that are out there in order to promote them, rather than give all our attention to big companies that are shutting down.