Mr. Speaker, there is no question that we agree it is important to have funding to support communities that are in need, which have had shutdowns, but what we have been talking about primarily here is how to prevent those shutdowns, how to invest in the industry to keep it alive and thriving. That is what we have not seen.
I was talking a moment ago about the $1.5 billion committed by the previous government, the Liberal government, in November 2005. That $1.5 billion program was cancelled by the Conservative government.
I talked a few minutes ago about the kind of funding that the government had available, even in this fiscal year, the $4.6 billion it has not been spending. It is very disappointing to people across this country that in an economic downturn like this one, the government has not responded and has not foreseen what was needed. Many Canadians could understand and foresee certainly by last fall what was happening, and the Conservatives were still denying it.