More and more community organizations are engaging in social economy activities, which is not to say that they are changing their orientation. They provide services of all kinds for a fee. For example, a community centre might decide to make money from the space it has by renting it out for other purposes. That income then allows it to fulfill its mandate better. This happens quite a bit. The enterprises Mr. LePage was describing are also aware of this practice. I could have made the same presentation as Mr. LePage. I think we are completely on the same wavelength.
Many enterprises in Canada, for example, what we call adapted enterprises in Quebec, provide work to people with disabilities. Social integration enterprises hire people who are nowhere near entering the labour market and provide them with training in a work setting that, although not very demanding, in most cases helps these people integrate into the labour market. This approach is working.
As Mr. LePage said, if we are talking about opening government procurement markets, then of course we are talking about a lot of money. The governments—not just the federal, but also city and provincial—spend a lot of money to buy goods and services, including a number that are already being provided by social enterprises.
The tendering process is designed in such a way that these enterprises cannot take part. On the other hand, certain efforts could be made to make this work at an equal or lesser cost. This would also allow these organizations to meet their social objectives.