Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here today.
Mr. Thompson, it's good to see you again. I've seen you over the years at various committees.
I appreciate some of the things you guys are trying to work on. I think small business is critical. I guess one of the concerns I have is the elephant in the room, which is the lack of competitiveness that we have as a country. I think that has to be part of every discussion.
I mean, deals are important, absolutely. All those things are important, but I think you need to convey a message back to the finance minister that we are one of the worst countries. We're struggling with competitiveness. If our firms cannot compete locally, I don't know how they can compete globally.
I can give you just a few stats. The Word Economic Forum has us ranked at 12th overall for competitiveness. The U.S. is number one, and that's our major competition. Canada came in 34th in the adoption of information and communications technology, 53rd in regulatory burden, and 96th in tariff complexity. When you put all these things together, it puts us at a tremendous competitive disadvantage. I could talk about Bill C-69, about the regulatory framework in terms of the energy sector, and I could go on and on.
I guess the challenge we have is this. I love some of the stuff we're doing. I love what the EDC does, and the BDC and CCC and all these things. I love CanExport. I think that's great, but what are you guys doing, as you mentioned in your opening remarks, to help SMEs understand that these programs exist? I mean, I'll bet a number of MPs don't know about half the programs we provide. Because of the committee we sit on, we've been exposed to them over the years.
What are some of the things you guys could do to help SMEs understand some of the things we have going on that could help them leverage what they are doing?