Part of my message today is to think forward. Should the Government of Canada choose to ratify the trade agreement, think forward about how to maximize that. To be blunt, I don't think large businesses need much assistance. But there is certainly an opportunity in rural Canada to encourage small businesses that are export viable to bridge the gaps that are there because they just don't know what they don't know about exporting.
I think that organizations like ours could play a role in delivering a service like that, which is tailored to businesses and small business owners who are stretched because they're running their business.... Many businesses grow because of effort and hard work and some forward planning that's tailored for small business. Again, we would point you to the Toronto Region Board of Trade and their trade accelerator program, to customize a program like that, which could be rolled out across Canada and make it easier and simpler to engage.
The part that our members struggle with is risk analysis. They don't understand it. Generally, the finance piece will solve itself through a number of existing programs. But delivering it to business owners who are on the cusp and don't want to establish a brand new factory in another country—they really want to export under a joint venture or licensing arrangement—those opportunities are untapped. When we looked at the research that The Conference Board of Canada did for the Toronto Region Board of Trade, 5% of export-viable companies are exporting. If we can move that by 2%, 3%, or 4%, the economic impact will be significant.