Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the member for Avalon for his friendship, his leadership and his convictions when it comes to really fighting for his community.
We have had numerous conversations where he has made it very clear that economic development, particularly in different regions around Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as in his community, is absolutely essential. That is why our government has made significant investments in our resource development agencies. We have actually invested $1.3 billion in all our resource development agencies, including ACOA. This is really important because all 32 members, regardless of their political persuasion, made it very clear that we needed to provide more investments in Atlantic Canada.
The previous Harper government made significant cuts; we made significant investments. This is really essential to supporting our workers and really highlights the different tools we are using, as demonstrated in this legislation as well, to support our communities, workers and industries.