Mr. Speaker, first I want to congratulate my colleague from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou on his explanations and remarks.
Like me, my colleague is from Abitibi-Témiscamingue, a region that has had its share of crises in various industries. It was hard hit by the mad cow crisis and the softwood lumber dispute.
In his remarks, he drew my attention to an important point. I am talking about the cornerstone of regional development. What is it? I am talking about young people, who are leaving the regions to train in the major centres because the governments are not putting adequate levers at their disposal so they can return or, at least, have an incentive to return. Finding a job in these regions is extremely difficult.
I can mention dozens of examples of people I met in the cities, such as Marc Therrien, an old friend, and Gino East, who is also from Abitibi. They want the government to stand up for once and provide real aid—particularly important levers such as EI—to the regions of Quebec.
There is $50 billion in this fund. Why not take this money and try to find pilot projects and ways to develop the regions?
Today, the government has an opportunity to help another category of workers, older workers, who have lost their jobs and whom we want to help re-enter the labour force.
My question for my colleague is as follows. Since he lives on a daily basis in the Abitibi region, I want him to explain just how important such levers are to this region and its development, and not just to older workers but to young Quebeckers as well.