Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm thrilled to be joining all of you in person to talk about the very ambitious mandate as the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. It's terrific to be here with Minister Champagne and Minister Hutchings. It's terrific to talk to the committee about the mandate of our respective portfolios. Picking up on what Minister Champagne said, it is very much a team approach that we take, so it's terrific to be here.
My mandate is all about generating growth and prosperity through economic development and creating opportunities for businesses to start up, to scale up and to access those international markets all around the world, while anchoring that success in growth right here in Canada.
I'm working to expand opportunities through trade, while making sure that no one is left behind. This means opening access to new markets and championing opportunities for women entrepreneurs, Black and indigenous business owners, and under-represented entrepreneurs.
It goes without saying that over these last two years we have made historic investments to support small enterprises.
From the wage and rent subsidies, the CEBA loans, and the hardest-hit business recovery program to the recently extended lockdown supports, my mandate goes much further than this pandemic.
Despite an unbelievable and difficult year, the Canadian economy has grown by 4.9 per cent.
This is thanks to the resilience of our small businesses and to the strength of our trade relationships. Canada is a trading nation. Trade accounts for two-thirds of our economy and one out of every six jobs. We're the only G7 country with a trade deal with every other G7 country. Our 15 agreements give our businesses access to 1.5 billion customers and to over 60% of the world's economy. We are working hard to grow those opportunities.
Our trade relationships are made up of thousands of individual success stories, but let me just tell you about one that stretches from Nova Scotia to Virginia, U.S.A., demonstrating the strength of the relationship with one of our closest trading partners.
The company is CarbonCure. CarbonCure's groundbreaking technology injects carbon dioxide into concrete, taking harmful greenhouse gases out of the environment. It makes the concrete much stronger, which means that builders use less of it. CarbonCure's innovation improves quality, and it fights climate change by lowering the carbon footprint in every project. In Virginia, Amazon's HQ2 headquarters is being built, and CarbonCure is in that building.
This is just one of hundreds of construction projects across North America, indeed around the world, that's using this innovation. This is Canadian innovation, assembled on the east coast of Canada in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, using parts that are sourced by an American distributor. The CO2 tanks used in CarbonCure's process are manufactured by multiple U.S. companies, including Helget Gas of Omaha.
This is the human dimension of trade. It's prosperity for our innovators, for go-getters, for business people, and indeed, for workers. It's stories, just like this one, all taken together, that are adding up to this past year's economic growth and recovery.
There is a reason that the Prime Minister created this position that combines international trade and small business, and to achieve economic development. It is to make sure that our small businesses are getting every opportunity to grow, to succeed around the world and here at home.
We know that in order for our enterprises to be able to do business, we have to help them develop and create jobs here in Canada. That is why we have made historic, essential investments in Canadian small enterprises.
Just yesterday in Ottawa, the Prime Minister and I announced the launch of the Canada digital adoption program, also known as CDAP. It's a $4-billion investment to help Canadian SMEs grow their businesses online and to boost their business technologies. It's to help them be more competitive.
Let's take an example of an entrepreneur who owns a main street clothing store. This program is going to help that owner establish a digital store and bring the business online. It's adding the click to the brick. For those entrepreneur suppliers who manufacture those clothes in Canada, we'll support their digital transformation to help them develop and improve their order fulfillment system, or to digitize some of their production line.
CDAP is going to be a game-changer for many businesses, including those in rural Canada. I know my colleague will happily talk about what is being done in rural Canada for those businesses and entrepreneurs. It will help them access new customers in their communities across Canada and, indeed, help reach that global marketplace around the world.
This program will also support our goal to get young people into the workforce with the skills of tomorrow. It's going to create 30,000 job placements for young Canadians.
We know that when we grow our businesses, we mustn't leave anyone behind. When we do, our economy is at a deficit. We can't afford to miss out on the talent, diversity and innovation of our country.
This is why, since 2018, we've invested over $6 billion in the women entrepreneurship strategy. This will unlock financing and resources and develop a supportive ecosystem to help women entrepreneurs succeed. To date, this program has helped 5,000 women start their businesses and over 7,000 women entrepreneurs grow their existing businesses, and there is still more to come.
We're also investing to remove systemic barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs and business owners through a $265-million Black entrepreneurship program, developed with Black entrepreneurs for Black entrepreneurs to address the systemic inequalities that Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs have faced for far too long.
When there are more prosperous Canadian entrepreneurs, our communities and our economy prosper.
In closing, the government understands that a successful and inclusive recovery depends on our communities and our small businesses, and our willingness and ability as leaders to do things differently and to adapt.
Thank you so much for having me. I look forward to answering your questions.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to answering your questions.