Mr. Speaker, this weekend's annual meetings of the Mouvement Desjardins are proof once again of the huge success of the co-operative movement founded in 1900 by Alphonse Desjardins. The total assets of the Mouvement Desjardins have increased by 33 per cent and are now worth $73.8 billion. Furthermore, this institution has declared surplus earnings of over $314 million.
The Mouvement Desjardins has mirrored Quebecers' dynamism, since its inception. In encouraging Quebecers to invest their savings in Quebec, Claude Béland, the president of the Mouvement Desjardins, said, and I quote: "We have no hope of winning the development war if we hand over our arms to others".
The success of the Desjardins movement is the result of an economic development model based on co-operation. Quebec's economic prosperity requires all participants in the Quebec socio-economic scene to work together in the fight against chronic unemployment.