Mr. Speaker, first, I thank the hon. for Mégantic—L'Érable for his question. It is always with pleasure that I answer questions as important as the one from my colleague for Mégantic—L'Érable. We can see, from his question, that he has a lot of experience when it comes to small and medium-sized businesses, which abound in my riding. I know he works hard for the support and development of industry as a whole in Mégantic--L'Érable.
The programs are well known. There is Technology Partnerships Canada and, of course, support and loan guarantee programs for the industry. We must be competitive and be able to offer what the competition is capable of offering. When we talk about competition, everybody thinks we are talking about other industries. This is not what we are talking about. We are talking about the American states which are trying to attract our best companies by telling them, “We think you are doing a good job. We are ready to offer you the $700 million you need”. What was asked for in the case of Bombardier was $700 million for the development of a new plan and a new aircraft.
We have competitors. We must be able to stand up to them. Once more, I am convinced that the members of the House can very quickly sit in committee and invite the industry to come and tell us what programs it wants improved. That done, we would be ready to vote in favour of the necessary credits so that these investments could be made for the benefit of the communities, and Quebecers in particular.