Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for making yourselves available to answer our questions.
Questions are rushing through my head, but I am going to try and make the most of my five minutes. I am more concerned with two questions at the moment.
Based on the consultations I had in the spring coupled with my responsibility for small businesses, I have drawn some conclusions. When it comes to free trade mechanisms, small businesses are often at a disadvantage compared to larger businesses, especially in terms of infrastructure, services and processes. Larger businesses have the resources to overcome those challenges. That is one of the things I understood on Monday, as I listened to the testimony of representatives from four small Canadian businesses.
I would like to know whether the free trade projects currently being negotiated include mechanisms specifically designed to help small businesses to overcome those challenges. Things can be tough for a business owner who has only a few employees, no experts and no one to take care of the paperwork and get things rolling. Those constraints can most definitely be an obstacle to entering any particular market.