Thank you, Madam Chair.
First of all, Mr. Dulude, thank you for informing us about your past employer. I am convinced that everyone was surprised, even on the other side of the table.
You say there is no more money as a result of economic circumstances. If I correctly understood your logic, you understand that, so you don't ask for any. However, the economic situation was different in 2006, 2007 and September or December 2008. I wonder at what point the current situation really began and people realized we were in a crisis. In all that time, no one said we were in a recession.
Your remarks earlier surprised me somewhat. I couldn't repeat them word for word, but you said there was no more money as a result of the economic situation and that you understood that. That made me wonder whether the universities and colleges of Canada that your association represents are really pleased to hear that today. They send representatives to testify before the Standing Committee on Official Languages possibly to request additional funding for colleges and universities, but they won't ask for any because we're in a recession. That surprises me enormously.
There are one university campus and two community colleges in my riding. We should check the relationship between you and those institutions, but it would be an enormous surprise to me if they thought as you do. What did we do all those years? Suddenly, a few months ago, someone woke up and understood that we were now in a crisis and a depression. Before that, however, and I'm not talking about some distant past, there wasn't any crisis or depression.
What is your position? What is your action plan in order to try and get additional funding so that you can help your association and the universities and colleges of Canada that you represent?