Well, thank you, dear colleague. It is a pleasure for me to have the chance to talk to you, for the first time directly, about what we're doing for the west.
Obviously I've had the chance to talk to many business people in the west, including the different members of the Alberta chambers of commerce, the Calgary and Edmonton chambers of commerce, the Saskatchewan chambers of commerce, the Saskatoon and the Regina chambers of commerce, the Manitoba chambers of commerce, the Winnipeg chamber of commerce, and the same for B.C. Clearly, I'm very much aware of not only the anxiety that is going through people in the west, many of whom live off the fossil fuel sector; I'm very much aware that the reality is also different in British Columbia.
Since the beginning of our mandate, we've done a lot in the regional economic development file to support Western Economic Diversification. It had been cut by $50 million under the Harper government, which was sad, as the west was already going through a difficult time. We increased the budget before the pandemic. That was under the responsibility of my dear colleague Nav Bains, who is here with us. As well, now we've doubled the budget of Western Economic Diversification.