Mr. Speaker, my questions have to do with the vision of the throne speech, because so many elements of it seem to be somewhat shortsighted.
One element I speak of is regional development agencies. There is one in southern Ontario and one in my area of Atlantic Canada. For the most part the programs were initiated years ago with a five-year term. There was a long-range outlook. It seems that all these programs do not have that now. Several initiatives are year over year. It is hard for many of the development agencies, and certainly for local economic development groups, to engage in these programs not knowing if they will receive funding in the following year.
The other issue is the rural aspect. I wonder if my colleague could address cost sharing. A lot of smaller communities are unable to put up their share for the programs, which makes it problematic certainly in my riding.