Mr. Speaker, I will try to be as brief as I can.
The hon. member makes the excellent point that small businesses tend to create employment locally, tend to purchase locally and tend to form part of the local economy. The profits earned from those businesses are retained within the community as opposed to going elsewhere.
As someone who was involved in economic development initiatives in a rural area, organizations would look for the big hit. They would look for the big 500 to 600 person plant to come in and create employment. Those days are long gone. That is just not in the cards any more, or if it is it is a rare occasion.
We have to build the local economy one small business at a time, one job at a time, and this act provides an important tool to allow that to happen in rural communities.