Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Parry Sound-Muskoka has been consistent and very aggressive in pursuing and promoting the interests of rural Canada as have a great many members of the caucus on the government side.
The throne speech last year indicated the general nature of the government's commitment. Since then we have been working on a variety of initiatives including improving access to capital, improving access to information technology and improving the quality of information available to rural Canadians about the programs and services of the Government of Canada.
In particular I mention the Canadian adaptation and rural development fund which among other things will pump in excess of $100 million over the next four years into the hands of local adaptation councils across Canada. This will help with rural growth and diversification and will bring decision making and priority setting into the hands of people locally in their own communities.