Thank you, Madam Chair.
We have come to the topic of affordability, which plays into competition among sectors. However, to ensure that there's competition, we also need to help small and medium-sized businesses and encourage their growth, so that people will have different options when it comes to buying things.
In my riding of New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville, there are lots of SMEs. They're really the backbone of Canada's economy. They're a major source of productivity and growth.
We saw major disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that has had long-lasting effects on SMEs. Think about shutting down for over a year and the effects it would have on your employees and the ability to stay afloat. Now is an especially important time to make sure we're supporting these SMEs.
How will measures in the budget implementation act reduce barriers and create better conditions for SMEs to grow, innovate and compete in today's economy?