Mr. Speaker, as I have not had the opportunity to rise in the House for quite some time, I first want to wish a happy new year to all my constituents in my riding of Ahuntsic, who gave me the privilege and honour of representing them here in the House.
Second, I want to thank the Prime Minister for entrusting me with new responsibilities in the House, and about which I am very passionate.
I want to focus today on what the throne speech said about the social economy, which the Prime Minister has made me responsible for.
I want to begin by quoting the World Health Organization. It states:
Societies that enable all their citizens to play a full and useful role in the social, economic, and cultural life of the society will be healthier than those whose people face insecurity, exclusion, and deprivation.
People will ask me, when my title is read out: What is the social economy? It is a relatively new term but one that has been used over the centuries in different terminology. Cooperatives is one example that is used in the rest of the country. In Quebec we talk about l'économie sociale.
I also want to make reference to what actually is the terminology used by the department to which I also have the honour of being parliamentary secretary. The way social economy is defined in terms of the department is that it is made up of foundations, cooperatives, mutual societies and associations that engage in economic activities with social goals. Through their activities and actions, they support their members, citizens at large and the community.
The concept is based on values of sustainable development, equal opportunity, the inclusion of disadvantaged people and civil society.
The social economy is rooted in entrepreneurship and independent community action. However, its main focus, which is what I really like about this file, is the fact that it empowers citizens to effect change and to effect change at the community level but in partnership with both the private sector, the public sector and a whole range of other partners at the local level.
As I said, the concept itself dates back to the early reflections of the 18th century and even the 19th century where we had the workers' movement, for instance trade unions, in various parts of the world. In the western world the social economy became more in vogue after the 1990s when we saw that the markets began to have a different dynamism than they did before. Market solutions to social problems is a relatively new concept. However, as I said, the form that it took before, the cooperatives, has been around for quite a while, especially in the 1970s.
On page 12 of the throne speech, for those who are interested, the government laid out how it views the social economy. It states:
And the Government will help communities to help themselves.
One of the best ways to do this is to get behind the remarkable people who areapplying entrepreneurial skills, not for profit, but rather to enhance the social andenvironmental conditions in our communities right across Canada.
In the Prime Minister's speech, on page 31 of the Debates of the House of Commons , he stated the following: “Enhancing quality of life in our cities is about wanting to help each other. It is about a willingness to work together to build great places to live”.
The Prime Minister continued as follows:
Today this willingness is everywhere in Canada. We see it in the efforts of a million Canadians working in the voluntary sector. And they have our support.
We see it in the efforts of the people who are applying entrepreneurial creativity—not for profit, but rather to pursue social and environmental goals.
That is what we call the social economy—and while it may be a less familiar part of our economy, we must not underestimate its importance.
He said further:
The people who are dedicated to these efforts understand the power of the social economy. The people themselves represent a powerful social resource, and it is high time that the federal government recognizes this.
I think that is why he assigned such an interesting and exciting mandate to me. That is why we must put in place at the federal level tools these groups can use in their activities.
I also want to mention a group that has been actively involved in this area in recent years. I am talking about the Chantier de l'économie sociale du Québec. Following the Speech from the Throne and the Prime Minister's remarks, the Chantier issued a press release, stating:
The Speech from the Throne and the Prime Minister's remarks constitute unequivocal recognition of how important the social economy is to the social fabric and the economic vitality of our communities. The Canadian government is thus recognizing the pluralistic character of our economy, which is based not only on market and government activities, but also on the contribution of a collective entrepreneurship dedicated to the well-being of its members and our communities.
Such government recognition is meaningful, as it requires government to commit the tools and effort necessary for the development of social economy enterprises, as confirmed in the Speech from the Throne and the Prime Minister's reply this morning in the House. These commitments should translate into an efficient response tailored to the specific needs of social economy enterprises, particularly in terms of capital and openness to various entrepreneurial support programs.
That is exactly the point I would like to address now, because what is important is to recognize organizations that have been active for a long time in the social economy.
First, I will focus on some in the riding of Ahuntsic, which I represent. I would also like to pay tribute to them. One example is the Corbeille Bordeaux-Cartierville.
Corbeille Bordeaux-Cartierville—“corbeille” refers to a basket—is a restaurant, a caterer and a frozen food delivery service. It is a business that reintegrates into the work force workers who need training.
There is also a furniture restoration workshop in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, known as AMRAC. It, too, has the goal of reintegrating workers. They restore and sell used furniture. It is amazing what they produce. AMRAC's furniture is very popular in the riding of Ahuntsic.
Another example is the Association récréotouristique Ahuntsic-Cartierville. The Bistro des Moulins, on Visitation Island, is another group promoting the social economy. All of these organizations are supported by the Corporation de développement économique communautaire of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. They provide some funding.
One of the most important groups in Quebec—somewhat outside the boundaries of the riding of Ahuntsic—is the Chantier de l'économie sociale. This organization supports development and counsels businesses and business networks in a way that complements existing networks. For a number of years, it has been one of the essential partners in the economic activity sector in Quebec.
Another is the Réseau d'entrepreneurs en économie sociale, which is a network of social economy organizations. Its goals are to provide promotional and other services to assist growth and development, while fostering recognition of an image based on the quality of the products and businesses involved.
Many of these businesses hire people with disabilities, women and immigrant women.
I will finish by saying that in both the Speech from the Throne and the Prime Minister's speech there were certain recommendations that came out through the consultations that I did as parliamentary secretary and through the consultations I had with the Prime Minister when he was the finance minister and when he was running for the leadership. Some of those recommendations ended up in both the Speech from the Throne and in the Prime Minister's speech.
We will be looking at all the funding programs on the federal level to ensure that they have better access to funding and core funding of social economy organizations. We will also look at regional development programs and make sure they also are accessible to the social economy partnership.
The last comment I want to make before I finish has to do with the Canadian CED Network which is building a fund to mobilize and plan communities. I thank the Prime Minister again for making this one of the priorities in his speech and in the throne speech.