I can speak only from the perspective of southern Ontario and the Federal Development Agency of Southern Ontario. I won't pretend to speak for ACOA or other regional development organizations.
However, I do know that during the Harper government, there were many good investments by FedDev throughout southern Ontario, many in my constituency that I can recall, including in clean water tech, among other things.
Recently I'm recalling that about a month ago, there was the news release from FedDev Ontario for the investment of $1.7 million in a pasta maker in Vaughan to create 10 jobs. That's $170,000 per job. I would submit that those are not the jobs of the future. I'm not sure how this alleviates the property tax payers of Vaughan. I'll just leave that there.
Look, these development agencies all fall under industry, so this is obviously an appropriate study for the industry committee.
Thank you.