Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Taking part at Expo was going to be incredibly expensive for us. A minimum contribution to be a partner with the federal government is $250,000. Prices are really inflated during these events, so even renting a large room, along with the supportive services that come with it for a period of time, would be $50,000 a day. This is just out of our league. In fact, very few provinces and none of the territories have pavilions there either. Things tend to get really exorbitant.
Expo '86, for example, cost this government $15 million. The Expo in Spain cost $4 million. We do not have that kind of money anymore. Even though we really want to promote tourism, is that the best use of our money?
I might add, Mr. Chairman, that myself and the deputy minister, Bob McLeod, are going to Antwerp in July, where I am making a speech at a diamond conference and we are going to take the opportunity to go over to Expo, meet with the commissioner and see if there is a way of us participating without having to pay these high costs. It may be possible that we can do something.
The Expo event goes on until November, so we have not lost the whole opportunity if we want to take part. Generally speaking, there are more cost effective ways for us to use our limited money than the cost of this event. Thank you.