Mr. Speaker, a great many organizations and companies have attractive projects and want to do business with Canada Economic Development. However, if Canada Economic Development starts to pay the recurring operating expenses of a variety of organizations, its budget gets all tied up, especially as there are so many of them. We made a decision, therefore, to go with specific projects, and we think that an organization’s legitimacy can be measured first and foremost by the fact that its stakeholders are willing to contribute to its operating expenses.
In the House of Commons on May 7th, 2008. See this statement in context.