Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd also like to thank the members of the committee.
My name is Marie-Claude Petit, vice-president of Operations at Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. From Montreal I'd like to thank the first nations who have used and occupied this land for millennia for welcoming us to their traditional territory.
I'm pleased to be here today to talk to you about our agency's activities in Quebec. Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, or CED, is the key federal player when it comes to the economic development of the regions and SMEs.
To begin, I'd like to point out to the committee that CED, like other regional development agencies in Canada, isn't sectoral. We don't have a mandate to intervene in one industry or another.
Rather, our mandate is to foster conditions for economic growth in the regions we serve. We are interested in the natural resources sector because it is a solid driver of growth in some regions. Our intervention priorities address such cross-cutting economic issues as the competitiveness of SMEs, market access issues, the necessary transition to net zero and support for devitalized communities.
Canada Economic Development supports SMEs, and the organizations that assist them, in the development, marketing and adoption of technologies. We also support the development of community assets, including tourism and the promotion of foreign investment.
In all areas of activity, we pay particular attention to projects led indigenous people or that could benefit their communities.
Just as they are all across Canada, natural resources are an asset for Quebec and an economic driver in several of our regions.
When they are related to businesses or economic players in this sector, our investments aim, among other things, to lead Quebec's regions beyond resource extraction, in order to protect them from the cyclical and structural challenges associated with it.
That's why our interventions don't directly affect natural resources development, but rather support secondary and tertiary processing activities, when they are promising projects for their region.
We also promote the creation of innovation ecosystems, such as those that are deployed in the college centres for the transfer of technology, or CCTTs.
For several years now, we've been supporting Nergica, a CCTT affiliated with the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles that works in the wind and solar energy sector.
In Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean, we invested in a project with Agrinova, another CCTT created by Collège d'Alma, to set up a centre to process forestry waste, in addition to acting as a business accelerator.
By focusing on these promising sectors and leveraging the competitive regional advantages, Canada Economic Development is contributing to the economic vitality of the regions and helping them obtain exposure, both within Quebec and beyond its borders.
We also play a key role in terms of integration and networking, which allows us to bring the right partners together for a given project.
This type of collaboration allows us to deliver on large-scale projects for our regions.
We also rely on cross-sectoral co‑operation and, of course, on collaboration with the Quebec government, a partner we have a special relationship with.
CED's approach is nimble, agile and focused on our community. We prioritize projects that generate long-term economic benefits.
Canada Economic Development will continue to support Quebec businesses and regions to foster a greener, more resilient economy for everyone.
Thank you. I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.