Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for my hon. colleague's question. Community futures development corporations are located in 90 rural communities across western Canada.
They provide valuable business services to thousands of small and medium size enterprises each year. They take part in strategic implementation and planning of regional economic development.
There are volunteer boards in these 90 CFDCs. They are comprised of local volunteer businessmen and community leaders. They approved 13,000 loans over the last seven years of $300 million, leveraging $500 million more.