Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank our witnesses for being with us here today. I want to join my colleague in recognizing that this is Small Business Week. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and dedication, as Ms. McCallion pointed out, of small business owners and entrepreneurs.
As we have been doing this study, we've learned that OSME was created with the main purpose of giving small and medium-sized enterprises access to government procurement in a number of ways: by reducing procurement barriers; by simplifying the contracting process; by providing training and education--I think that was mentioned; by collaborating to improve procurement policies; and by working to ensure that the concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises were brought forward and heard.
My questions are for Mr. Rivenell and Ms. Abu-Hakima. I am wondering, judging from your opening remarks and keeping these objectives in mind, if you think OSME is fulfilling its mandate.