Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to the witnesses for joining us today.
I have a lot of questions because I see this as a highly important topic.
We know that lobbying is necessary. As members of Parliament, we do not know everything about every industry. So there must be a balance. In one respect, we have the people who represent the industry well and come to explain that industry's specific needs. In another respect, it's basically a job needing great professional skill to be able to understand the structure and the documentation. This means that they have to deal with a very intricate process if they eventually want to be able to access public money.
I have a question that is likely for you, Mr. Routhier. In Quebec, 99% of companies are small and medium. In Canada, it's 98%. In a way, do you find that the legislation has become so complex that SMEs simply give up the idea of talking to the government, because it is way too complicated for them? That means that just 1% of very rich companies derive any benefit from lobbying.
Do you find that the paperwork has become just too heavy?