Madam Speaker, on behalf of the government and especially as Secretary of State for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, I am pleased to rise today to speak to the Reform Party motion which, as my colleague, the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development mentioned earlier, can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
Basically I understand that this Reform Party motion is a further illustration of the attitude adopted since 1993 by opposition parties as a whole, but more particularly by that one, a negative attitude, which runs contrary to the democratic meaning of constructive opposition.
I respectfully submit that we and Canadians as a whole should be entitled to constructive opposition. Unfortunately, the opposition parties as a whole tend too often to play petty politics. The interests of Canadians are too important for the government to put up with such rhetoric.
Since 1993, the government and the members of the Liberal Party have worked hard to manage public money in a responsible manner and to develop our regions' economy according to the realities in our country.
This morning I went to the archives to read a speech given in 1969 by Jean Marchand, a famous politician we are proud of as Quebeckers and Canadians, when what was then called the Department of Regional Economic Expansion was established. It was obvious from this speech that the government wanted every region to have equal access to economic development opportunities. It tried to take all disparities into account and be sufficiently flexible to meet the very special needs of each region.
Mr. Marchand's vision was realized. We began with a national department and, at the time, this national department was required to consult with all other federal departments in the interest of improved co-ordination. Today, we have three economic development agencies. My colleague, the Secretary of State for Science and Technology, also mentioned another structure in Ontario.
These agencies have maximum flexibility. They are there to operate in terms of the economic realities of each part of this country and, as the Secretary of State responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada, my mandate is to do what is in the best interest of Quebeckers. In order to take the particular features of each region into account, the Prime Minister made sure that agencies could derive the maximum benefit from economic development policies during the latest government reorganization.
We put the three agencies under one umbrella, Industry Canada, so that the agency and its economic development policies would be adapted to what the regions were facing and so that there would be a sense of family, the broader co-operation people had in mind when the Department of Regional Economic Expansion was created, which makes it possible to derive the maximum benefit from economic development policies designed with the entire country in mind while still taking into account the realities, needs and viewpoints of each of the agencies.
Today, I am proud to say that Canada has always been seen as an international leader in the area of regional economic development. Especially under the Liberal Party of Canada, this country has been able to create an approach which has made it the envy of many OECD member countries.
In our effort to adapt to changes and to a variety of requirements, we have also had a program review, which represented a major turning point for all of my colleagues. When we speak of re-examining the way the Canadian government is involved in various areas of jurisdiction, we are also referring to the economic development of the regions.
In this connection, those of us at Economic Development Canada had, if I remember correctly, some 42 or 43 programs. As a result of program review, we created one program for SMBs, initially called IDEE-PME.
We also rethought our mandate on involvement in the regions, stressing the core of economic development which, as you may have guessed, is small and medium size business.
At the same time, taking advantage of program review, we re-examined our role. That exercise brought us to the conclusion that Economic Development Canada's activities would involve multiple roles.
I am proud to say that Economic Development Canada is the main gateway for any SMB that wants to have dealings with the federal government, the Canadian government. When they want information on all of the programs available in the departments, Economic Development Canada is the main gateway.
One of the important roles of myself and my team is the responsibility to represent within the federal machinery all the various issues relating to economic development that concern Quebeckers.
Another facet of our mandate, and an important one, is promoting to the entire population of Quebec the various services of the Canadian government.
I would like to mention that we set up in 1997 what we called small and medium business fairs. This is a Government of Canada event that travels to all of Canada's regions. As regards my mandate, obviously, we are talking about Quebec. These fairs travel around to inform business people and those who will be in business of changes we have made since 1993 and of the various services available.
I am proud to tell you that, in 1997-98, there were eight small and medium business fairs in Quebec, and 11,000 business people or future business people had access to these services of the Government of Canada. They had access to major seminars on ways to set up a business, how to export and new economic realities. They also had access to our services.
In 1998-99, five fairs were held and 5,345 present or upcoming business people attended and had access to this source of information. The fairs are a mine of important information. We business people know we are living in a new era. Often ready access to information means a capital gain that makes us more competitive.
In all, our concerted intervention has enabled 16,345 people in business to understand or better understand the federal machine and, in many cases as well, I hope, find programs that suit their needs. Or perhaps they met people, experts, who could help them with certain problems.
Another equally important aspect of our role is to resolve special mandates, hence the flexibility. The flexibility we sought in 1969 continues to be reflected in the Canadian machine today.
Here are some examples of special mandates: the management of the Canada-Quebec infrastructure program, which was given to Canada Economic Development for the province of Quebec, and the strategy for the Greater Montreal, on which I will report in the near future. During the July 1996 torrential rains, initiatives were also taken to help affected regions, and a liaison office was set up.
I should also mention the implementation of an economic recovery program following the ice storm. There is also a special and specific initiative for communities affected by the groundfish crisis called the Quebec coastal fund.
This is an important initiative because we know that there is currently a groundfish crisis affecting certain regions of Quebec and, of course, of Atlantic Canada. As a government, we reacted quickly and very matter-of-factly to these new situations. Our goal is to help all the individuals affected, but also the communities affected, in terms of their economic development.
The specific initiative regarding the groundfish crisis includes an economic development component. The responsibility for that component was given to Canada Economic Development. We are currently talking about a fund of close to $20 million—and I recently had an opportunity to see the situation first hand in the affected regions—that was put at the disposal of Canada Economic Development. This organization manages that fund along with its other responsibilities. From March 1996 to December 1998, investments of $9.1 million were made in Quebec. The total investments generated in Quebec regions to help people rethink their economic safety net are of the order of $30 million.
A total of 203 projects and 560 jobs were either created or maintained in the regions that experienced particular problems. This regional development policy is one that reflects the Canadian way of doing things and which, to some extent, is despised by opposition parties. Thanks to this policy, these regions finally got a chance to take another look at how they did things and to rebuild an economic net so that their communities could again hold their heads up, create jobs and generally get back on track.
There are a great variety of projects, including the one in support of the Pied du Vent cheese factory in Havre-aux-Maisons in the Magdalen Islands, which received $80,000 from the Quebec coastal fund; of fisheries such as Marinar Limitée in Rivière-aux-Renards; of Ghislain Tanguay Complexe and Chez Maxime Enr. on the Lower North Shore, and at Baie-Johan-Beetz, where we have also invested in some very special projects.
These are some of the things we are doing that show the Canadian government's flexibility.
I could also mention some of the results. Earlier, I mentioned the Canada-Quebec infrastructure program run by Economic Development Canada. This program has had amazing success across the country and which has also shown that when we work as partners, when the parties and the various levels of government set aside their purely political interests and look at what is best for the public, together we can accomplish quite extraordinary things.
We funded 3,250 projects under the Canada-Quebec infrastructure program. The Canadian government contributed $633 million, and $2.7 billion in investments were generated. An estimated 35,646 jobs were created or maintained through this partnership. That is our role.
There is also the programming of Economic Development Canada, which we have tailored to the new economic realities. The IDEA-SME program enables us to intervene within the limitations of our jurisdiction and our expertise and to provide to all regions of Quebec an attractive partnership with the federal government.
IDEA-SME is an intervention in the areas of innovation, design, research and development. It encourages entrepreneurship in all regions of Quebec and of course helps them develop export markets.
The second program we created a little over a year ago is the Regional Strategic Initiatives Program. Its purpose is, if I may put it that way, to push to the limits—although there will perhaps never be any limit—the government's desire to work in partnership with all regions and to ensure the structuring of programs which truly correspond to the realities and needs of the local people.
Thus the Regional Strategic Initiatives Program enables us in each region of Quebec to structure an intervention which did not originate in my office but rather is prepared in a partnership with the stakeholders of economic development in each region. Its results truly speak for themselves.
Where the east of Quebec is concerned, we have announced a Regional Strategic Initiative called Technopol Maritimes. And in the greater Quebec City region, there is another RSI aimed at developing a techno-region with an international outreach. In Chaudière-Appalaches there is RSI-Amiante.
Through these specific initiatives, we have so far allocated $72.4 million to the regions of Quebec.
Today, when we talk about economic development, we refer to initiatives that involve public moneys, but it is important to realize that, in the context of globalization and the new means of communication, the role that governments must play has changed completely.
When we talk about regional economic development, we must think in terms of partnerships, of the networks that we can provide to a region, and also at the international level. We must include the expertise, experience and economic development tools such as, for example, Industry Canada's Strategis web site, which is the largest commercial site in Canada, if not in North America.
With regard to partnerships, we have also created special links with the community futures development corporations in Quebec. These 54 corporations do a remarkable job and I believe they will play an increasingly important role within the great Canadian family, in terms of delivering services. Community futures development corporations have existed for 20 years in that format or in another and they currently provide good expertise that complements the input provided by the Canada Economic Development.
When governments want to work together, when we recognize that the concept of economic development has evolved over the last decade to encompass expertise, partnership and networking, when we recognize this together, I think there is an opportunity for all those who want to help do something about economic development.
This government's strategy is working and respects the legitimate aspirations of the regions, and under no circumstances will members on this side of the House sit back while the opposition parties trivialize the very important things we have done for all regions of Quebec and of Canada.
