Thank you very much, Minister, for being here with us today.
I would like to touch on a few themes you started to raise, and perhaps allow you to elaborate a little more on them.
First, one of the barriers to economic success we've heard a great deal about during our study on the subject at this committee has been, as you referenced, a lack of access to capital for women entrepreneurs. It was astonishing to me how difficult it was for women in business to get the seed funding they needed to get businesses off the ground, to scale up, and to thrive.
I'm curious about what plans we have in place to ensure that women have better and equal access to financing so they can contribute to the economy to the same degree men can and experience all the benefits that come with it.