Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the answers provided by the hon. member for Honoré-Mercier. If he had had more time, he could have added that I not only met with the mayor of Saguenay, but also with the economic stakeholders, as I did in each of the 14 regions of Quebec. The hon. member could also have pointed out that Canada Economic Development often serves as a channel for the involvement of many other federal departments, including Canadian Heritage, Transport, Industry and so on. He could have added that the offices of Canada Economic Development are not service points. They are proactive and they reach out to the community to solicit projects.
There is something that I do not really understand. The questions being asked by members opposite deal with Bill C-9, even though these members know full well that this is a purely technical bill. They are the ones who wanted to have a substantive debate. Canada Economic Development does achieve the work that is expected of this organization. In fact, it does so under the Constitution because, under the Constitution, we have a mandate to try to eliminate regional disparities.
The hon. member for Honoré-Mercier did an excellent job in the field. He came to us with projects that we were able to support in his region. The hon. member opposite will not admit it, but some projects were also supported in his region, without his involvement. He showed up for the photo ops when the Aluminium Technology Centre was announced, but he had nothing to do with it.
Making a few corrections and displaying a bit of intellectual honesty might be in order here.