Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to our witnesses for their presentations, which will help us focus our study a great deal. Today, they answered a number of key questions and I thank them for that.
After I was elected as an MP in 2011, I visited the SMEs in my riding. I noticed a wide range of needs, but I also realized that a lot of demands are similar.
Last week, I visited a company that makes rubber parts. It is a very specialized business. Located in Saint-Eustache, it now exports to Asia, to China in particular. This is exactly the type of SME that needs encouragement and support.
Several concerns have been raised. SMEs are very versatile and change direction very quickly, which often makes it difficult for the government to adapt its tools to this reality.
During my visits, I asked the businesses whether they were aware of the existence of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, and most of them said that they were not. I think it is really important to focus on educating the SMEs and raising their awareness.
However, I would like to go back to another question that was raised.
My question is more on global payment issues that affect mostly medium-sized businesses. The number of businesses reporting that currency movements are having a negative impact on growth has increased over the past few months. I was wondering if this is an issue that you've looked at. Is this something you're planning on dealing with specifically?
I guess we could start with whoever would be best placed to answer.