That's a very important point. As I mentioned, we are a region that exists primarily because we export a significant amount of what we produce, be it fresh produce or what we manufacture, which is exported mostly to the U.S. Almost 85% to 90% of what we make and produce here is exported out.
It's extremely important for us to be competitive. In the past, we've done pretty well for a few reasons. One is our corporate tax advantage vis-à-vis the U.S. That was key, and that was very important to helping us to continue to be competitive.
Also, in Ontario, our wages used to be lower than they are today. That was another competitive advantage that we had, which is no longer there. The dollar exchange most of the time used to work in our favour, but you can't really rely on that. It fluctuates and, going forward, we really can't be sure where it will stand.
Then, as you pointed out, this whole Buy American thing, the initiative in the U.S., is really putting our manufacturers at a disadvantage. All of those put together are creating this perfect storm for our small and medium-sized businesses.
We really think that we need to work on all fronts. We want to make sure that we are competitive when it comes to corporate taxes. The minimum wage is nothing that the federal government can really do anything about, but that's something that is common for small and medium-sized businesses.
We also need to see what we can do to help companies navigate through the Buy American initiative there. Our companies export significantly. We do also import quite a bit. We don't have any preferential treatment when it comes to importing products from across the border or from elsewhere. Our companies are at a disadvantage right now, because while we import, our region, which consists of a lot of export companies, imports a lot of products that go into the finished products that get exported.
We do import. There's no preferential treatment. We don't have any barriers. We don't have any Buy Canadian initiative right now that affects the U.S. while we have the constraints and the restrictions on selling into the U.S. market. That definitely hampers us. It hinders our ability to compete in something that we definitely want the government to take a good look at to see what can be done.