Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the two witnesses for being here today to help us to understand the situation on the ground better.
Mr. Nowlan, I see you spell your first name differently from mine. That is interesting. There are so many ways of writing it.
I am first going to address a few items very quickly. I want to congratulate the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Economic Development Agency for rural regions. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, your support was exceptional and you helped businesses and communities enormously.
On the other hand, I have a memory that is a bit painful, one that dates back 50 years. I was very young at that time, and that gives you an idea of my age.
My father, who was a municipal councillor, had asked for business incubators. He did that for five years. He had to write to the newspapers in Quebec and Ottawa to get money, because the Acadian community never got funding. I know it has improved a lot, and I am going to ask my question with that in mind.
Listening to the presentation by the representative of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency earlier, I thought I understood that there was a database of francophone Acadian businesses in the Atlantic region. Is that true?
First, could we know what this business database is? Second, could we know the regions in which the businesses are located? Third, could we know what amounts have been received, by province and by region, so we can get a picture of the situation once we know how many businesses there are in each region?
You said earlier that there was an office in Meteghan or Clare, but there wasn't one in Cape Breton. In fact, there is one, but there are none in the Acadian region. I would like to know what businesses there are in each province and each region and how much money they were given in comparison with the other francophone businesses in each of the provinces. Would it be possible to send that information to the committee very quickly?