There is a significant and burgeoning high-tech and start-up field in all four provinces. We have some aero industry in P.E.I. This is all over the place, so it's not just in Halifax, although I think the largest concentration is in Halifax.
We know that it is very difficult for new companies to raise capital and it is more difficult here because, as the numbers show, there is less local capital available in Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canadians save the least of all Canadians, according to our research, so there is a diminished pool of capital and it is largely dependent—not that this is a good thing—on the largesse of governments.
Removing, or potentially impairing, the ability of members of the family, friends, and so forth to be able to provide capital at different points of what is essentially the development of a start-up is.... We know that sometimes when start-ups have good ideas they can bring capital in, but it's along the way—there are several different stages when they become cash starved as well—when family members often step in there. It is all the more important to be able to maintain that ability so that this vital and burgeoning sector of the Atlantic Canadian economy continues.