I want to follow up on what my liberal colleague said.
Companies in the manufacturing sector or in softer sectors now face a fierce competition from Asia. For example, furniture manufacturers could export more to emerging economies like China, Taiwan and India where a middle class is developing, creating new trade opportunities.
However, I think EDC is not known locally. Often, the main local organizations that companies get in touch with are Canada Economic Development and the Community Futures Development Corporations, or CFDCs, on the federal side, and the local development centres or CLDs locally.
I think you should increase awareness among businesses which are still reluctant about exporting to emerging countries. In the furniture sector, trade is essentially between Canada and the United States. We have a free trade agreement, so we are not exporting to emerging economies because we have concerns.
Perhaps EDC should play a bigger role in smaller communities through structures like the CFDCs or the CLDs in order to promote its services and to explain how they can complement services provided by the CFDCs, which also loan money to small businesses.
I feel EDC is far from my community which has an important manufacturing sector. In the Mauricie area, people feel EDC is very far. Recently, I referred to EDC a microbrewery that wanted to export. The company did not get any answer from EDC even though it met the conditions. Small and medium-sized businesses feel that EDC is very far from them.