Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
With ACOA having been created to help foster economic development in Atlantic Canada, keeping in mind the extremely high unemployment rates in the region, and knowing that small and medium size businesses are the ones creating the jobs, can the minister responsible confirm for Atlantic Canadians that the ACOA budget will be reduced by one-third to $250 million by the first year of the next millennium, projecting the lowest level of funding since 1988-89?