Mr. Speaker, I think that the member across the way may have put this question to please me.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Every time I travel to a region, I meet with the local stakeholders and local authorities. We have debates and discussions with them, and I listen much more than I speak. I listen to what they have to tell me about their concerns, their priorities, their goals, their dreams, and so on.
Ask the mayors of Chandler, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup, Baie-Comeau and Saguenay, and in the Magdalen Islands. Everywhere I go, regardless of whether or not I have an announcement to make, I take the time to listen carefully to the local authorities and stakeholders.
Whether in Sherbrooke or in Baie-Comeau, chambers of commerce are very important forums of reflection on economic development. Local authorities have a responsibility. They are the ones closest to the everyday reality. What they have to say is extremely important for me to understand what needs to be done. I do not go there to dictate what to do, but to listen to what people have to tell me.
I suggest that my hon. colleague do something very simple. He should just ask all these mayors and municipal councillors I have met with over the eight to ten months I have been in charge of this portfolio. They number literally in the hundreds. Clearly, the question I was just asked either completely ignores the reality of my work in the field, as confirmed by the local stakeholders, or it is pure demagoguery.