I won't deny that the consequences were very serious. Francophones outside Quebec used to be able to count on francophone provincial councils in seven provinces. I would say that we got kneecapped, not to put too fine a point on it. Several provinces had to stop offering services. For instance, from that day on, a francophone in Nova Scotia would have had to travel thousands of kilometres to receive services to help him to set up a cooperative. Because of that, expertise was lost in several provinces. The consequences were very serious on the service that helped to set up cooperatives, first of all.
We also lost the help offered for innovative cooperative projects and subsidies to help them start up. For a community that wanted to solve a community problem with a cooperative solution, access to start-up funding became much more difficult.
Yesterday, again, I was discussing matters with various francophone provincial councils outside Quebec, who told me that on top of everything the demand is increasing. Communities are asking for new cooperative projects in greater numbers, but there is a lack of resources. People can no longer meet the demand.
So clearly, the consequences are very serious.