Mr. Speaker, in his comments the member read the Canada yearbook of subsidies. His whole argument carries in it its own seed of death. We certainly do not have to thank him for a few crumbs fallen off the table or for the minimum Canada Economic Development does. He said, “Look how fantastic it is; this is why we going to change it”. If it is not broken why fix it?
He reminds me of a farmer telling another one from whom he had borrowed a cauldron, “I will not give you your cauldron back for three reasons: first, I never borrowed it; second, I already gave it back to you; and third, it had a hole and I threw it out”.
We are told things must change. However, Canada Economic Development is investing money—not too much, not always in the right place, not always in the right way—while the leadership for regional development is in Quebec, which has its own system of CLDs. It is not a matter of whether CFDCs are good or bad.
However, when we meet people, we see that reality is not that of the Minister of the Economic Development Agency for the Regions of Quebec. When we go in the field, we see the reality in Montreal with the CEDCs, there are agreements with CLDs. In my area, there are agreements with CLDs. What these marvellous federal creatures tell us is that they have no money. Their budget is spread over eight months. There is no increase.
And now the government is going to add a minister and an agency on top of that. Is that really good for Quebeckers or is it only good for the visibility of the federal government that wants to have its say and mess up something Quebec is putting in place with various stockholders? Nobody wants it except maybe a mayor who wants to run in the next election in the Saguenay area.