Thank you, Chair.
It's good to see you, Mr. Morneau.
We are discussing the Infrastructure Bank today. I want to make a few comments about that first, and then I will turn it over to you for a couple of questions.
During Mr. Ehren Cory's testimony last month, he said that the CIB looks to invest in projects that have become stuck and to encourage private partnership investments by reducing market risk.
Looking at the CIB's broadband investments, for example, Mr. Cory stated that if the CIB were to be abolished, those projected broadband connections would be abandoned. The CIB is helping to fill the gaps for profit companies, I guess you would call them, not found a business case to provide service for.
When you look at, for example, the broadband work that's going on across the country, our government has committed to connecting all Canadians to the Internet to give them an opportunity no matter where they live to be able to use the broadband and Internet services of providers. This would never happen without investments from our government.
It's very clear that Bell, Rogers, Eastlink and others in rural Newfoundland and Labrador had eliminated or omitted providing services to many small communities in my riding of Bonavista—Burin—Trinity and other places in Labrador and across the country. Rural communities were being left out of the loop.
The COVID period really highlighted why it was so critically important that we do what we're doing. This was done for school children who spent time on the systems trying to learn while everybody was shuttered during COVID. It was important in the medical field for doctors. Connectivity was critically important to help them deal with treating their patients. Rural Canada is benefiting immensely from our investment in Internet services across the country.
Based on that and based on, for example, continuous upgrades that are happening now because of our investment in fibre optics in communities like Grand Bank at the tip of the Burin Peninsula, Marystown and others, why do you think this is important for Canadians socially and economically?