They are in Abitibi also, as my colleague just mentioned. They offer investment funds, and in addition to everything else, they have an extraordinary team that people have access to, a team that knows what economic development is and that has a lot of experience.
When we speak of community futures development corporations, we speak basically of a team that has $82 million in assets. Annual investments in Quebec by CFDCs—and this is important when people talk about having a fair share, the numbers are there—are in the order of $23 million. So we can see that these people are active locally. These people carry out business with the local community. In fact, speaking of being active locally and of conducting business, we have developed recently—the Government of Canada in partnership with CFDCs—programs allowing to better focus on the needs of regions in Quebec.
Let me just mention the CFDCs youth initiative. This is basically a grants program with a budget of $6 million that is intended for young people up to age of 34 inclusively. The beauty of this program is that it was structured and designed by the CFDCs in co-operation with the federal office of regional development, to enable us to respond to the needs of young people in Quebec.
The unemployment rate among young people today is around 17%. The statistics are not very encouraging neither, in the area of keeping our youth in our regions. So this youth initiative is designed to keep young people in the regions and also to help them build their own businesses.
Another area we have developed, in addition to involvement in the community, is a new vision of economic development. This is essential because of globalization. I often hear other governments and even critics opposite speak about economic development and I notice that these people, when they succeed in forgetting party lines and when they deal with a particular issue, often base their premises on ideas from the past.
I have two minutes left. As I said, I could talk all day about economic development. To conclude, when we speak about economic development today, we must stop thinking in terms of geography and we must think instead in terms of networking to succeed in competing internationally, and that is what the globalization of markets is calling upon us to do. We must be capable of networking, not only on a national basis, but also on an international basis. This is a positive vision that can help Quebec.
In closing, when we speak of fair shares, I think you have proof in the few words I have just spoken that not only has Quebec received fair treatment as far as the GST is concerned, but when we look more specifically at the question of economic development, there again you have an example that speaks volumes about the services the Canadian government can render and the assistance the Canadian government already renders to all regions, all entrepreneurs. The purpose of so doing is, of course, to serve.
I and my fellow MPs for Quebec have the greater interests of their constituents at heart. As a result, we can built together, unlike what is happening within the Bloc.