I agree. When we look at why businesses aren't investing in training, I still think you need to look at your community. For example, in Nova Scotia, many of our businesses are made up of very small organizations of five or six employees. They're mom-and-pop operations and they make up a good portion of Nova Scotia. They're not always eligible for programs, nor do they have the resources to do it.
How do you get them to buy in? I think we need to be more innovative in our thinking. I think tax incentives are one way and so are programs. But we also simply have to look at the reality of their work, and I don't know that we do that often enough.
I'll give you an example. I work with a group of small business owners. They're one-owner companies. They're on their own. They may have one or two staff people. We've taken an innovative approach. We've brought them together within our community, so we actually have the numbers we require to put together a program, and we're delivering essential skills for small business owners. We've had a huge impact. I've been working with them now for three years, and their businesses have grown because we've developed the essential skills and worked it into the customized workplace--what is it that they need in their workplace. It's become a very powerful story and a very powerful picture.
It really means you need to speak to the businesses. They don't have the resources, quite often, and it's a resource issue. You can look at Michelin and High Liner, those larger companies. They have the resources and the funding to do the human resource development. That's not applicable to smaller businesses.
How do you meet their needs? According to ACOA, $40 million was pumped into the Nova Scotia economy by women entrepreneurs in 2004. How are they being supported?