Mr. Speaker, there are so many contradictions I do not know where I should start. The hon. member talked about the sprinkling of CED money for the sake of visibility, and then he said he regretted not being invited to public announcements.
Does he want to be invited because he has worked on the project being announced? Not at all. Is it because he initiated the project? Not at all. Why does he want to be invited? Because it is a photo op.
Why accuse others of wanting to be visible when his sole goal is visibility? This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It does not make sense.
The hon. member also talked about cooperation. Let me remind him of the Alumiforme case in the Saguenay area, for example. Canada and Quebec cooperated closely to promote secondary processing of aluminum. There is also the Centre de recherche en biotechnologies marines. Again, $6 million came from the federal government and $8 million from the province. We worked in cooperation and took care of both the infrastructure and the equipment.
And what about Montréal International? Perhaps the hon. member does not know that Montreal is also an area in need of development.
Something fascinates me. In the very riding of the hon. member, 5 businesses and 172 jobs were created over the last year only, thanks to the action of my department.
I have a question for the hon. member. I have to go back to my CED office in Montreal today to sign a financing proposal of $300,000 for the Chaudière-Appalaches ATR. The chief executive officer of the ATR is Mr. Richard Moreau. Would the hon. member opposite like me to tell Mr. Moreau that, at the request of the Bloc, I have refused to authorize this $300,000?