Think about the red tape and the complexities that small business owners have to go through. Let's just take an independent farm. I was surprised to know that there are over 1,000 registered independent farms in the Ottawa region alone. These farms produce products. They might, for example, grow their own berries and make jam. This jam now need to be sold somewhere. It's not as simple as just taking an item and putting it online or going and selling it. There's a lot of complexity. For example, there are labelling-related issues, business registration, insurance and shipping.
I think we've all gone through this. We go to purchase something online and when we get to the checkout, it says that shipping is now $30 or $40 and so we exit the shopping cart. In comparison, when you get to a checkout at a big box organization, there will be free shipping or it's five dollars. How can small businesses actually compete?
This is where I think the small business hub becomes essential. It becomes a one-stop shop where small businesses and entrepreneurs can actually go and access experts, whether it be the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on labelling requirements, Canada Post on shipping requirements or other public-private partnership organizations that are there to help small businesses succeed, instead of what it is right now. Right now it is a reactive enforcement model, compared to a proactive support model.
I think that's where that small business hub becomes extremely important.