Mr. Speaker, as my colleague pointed out earlier, I had intended to speak about the co-operative in Notre-Dame-de-Montauban, but I am simply going to talk about the cuts made by the federal government, which has distinguished itself by cutting the services of the Co-operatives Secretariat.
The latest federal budget reduced grants to Canada's co-operatives still further, despite the fact that they are on the front line in our rural communities. Technical support for the development of co-operatives in Canada, the only federal government program specifically for co-operatives, has shrunk to almost nothing. The budget for the specific program called the co-operative development initiative has been eliminated, without any alternatives being set up.
Nevertheless, the Conservatives, who boasted about being the all-out champions of rural development, have scrapped one of the few development initiatives for small and medium-sized communities in Canada in one fell swoop.
We are happy to see the co-operative movement set up new structures in Mauricie, but we hope that this model, the final barrier against the decline of our towns and villages, will develop throughout the area. We will have to invest the funds needed for the co-operatives' start-up in order to help the rural communities take control and ensure the stability of their towns, I could even say, of our towns.
I would like to ask the ministers opposite if they can tell me exactly how the communities should attract entrepreneurs to the area if they cannot even ensure the survival of local businesses. Rural development, whether agricultural, mining, industrial or business-related, is inextricably linked to maintaining basic services.