Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill C-99, an act to amend the Small Business Loans Act and to share with the House the concerns and hopes of small business owners and managers throughout Guelph-Wellington.
At this important time in Canadian history I remind all Canadians that it is the hope of small business people in Guelph-Wellington, their families and their employees that Canada remains united. They recognize the imperfections of our confederation, but they realize, as we have in the past, that we can continue to evolve to make our country always stronger. They are confident that a united Canada, one that includes Quebec as an active member of our nation, will continue to be regarded worldwide as the best country in the world in which to live.
Bill C-99 is part of our ongoing effort to reduce the deficit, fulfil the promises we made to Canadians two years ago and provide the support that is necessary to enable small business to grow and to create jobs. I congratulate the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Finance who have directed and focused our efforts to strengthen small business in Canada. The Minister of Industry visited my community last year. He was welcomed by small business people who encouraged him to continue his initiative of providing support and assistance to them, so that they can continue to build a strong community in Guelph-Wellington and elsewhere.
Small business people in Guelph-Wellington, when talking to me, remind me that they have hope in our future. They talk to me as women and men who have taken risks in order to build a life for themselves and their families. They are creating jobs in my community and in every riding across Canada. They look to us, the federal government, to assist them in that important responsibility.
The Small Business Loan Act is part of our efforts. Since 1961 more than 420,000 loans, totalling over $15.5 billion, have been made to small businesses. These loans have helped small business gain access to capital for start-up, expansion and growth. The program's success lies in its ability to serve as an economic development tool and as an example of public sector and private sector co-operation.
Guelph-Wellington recently hosted, through the efforts of small business leaders like Catherine Billings, Anne Redfearn-Grobbo, Richard Zinck and Valerie Poulton, Community Spirit '95, a small business expo, which brought together business people to exchange ideas, share expertise and celebrate the successes of small businesses in Wellington county. The message that I received at Community Spirit '95 and wherever I meet small business leaders is: We need government to get out of the way where it causes us unnecessary burden; to listen to us when we have ideas for our future and to provide the assistance necessary for us to weather uncertainty and to expand our resources when we want to create jobs and strengthen our achievements. The Small Business Loans Act program allows every small business in Guelph-Wellington whose revenues do not exceed $5 million annually to ask for that assistance.
Small business people in my community understand the seriousness of our financial crisis. They know that deficit spending is not the way to sustain our economic future. They are concerned about taxation and they want the government to manage its money as well and as carefully as they manage their own money. They recognize the need to reduce expenditures and to refocus spending.
The Minister responsible for Public Service Renewal visited Guelph this fall where he spoke to representatives of small business about the program review that will redesign government. They welcomed the change because they support our efforts to spend what we have and not to mortgage our future.
Recently, the Small Business Loans Act program has suffered tremendous losses for the government. Assuming continuation of the historic losses that have occurred over the past few years, the annual program cost would increase by over $100 million. Clearly this is a threat to the future of the program. The potential cost of the program given these circumstances, and the government's need for deficit control required that the program be brought to full cost recovery.
The federal government included an examination of the Small Business Loans Act in its program review process. During the months of October and November 1994 the review included extensive consultations with major stakeholders, representing lenders and those who borrow. As part of our efforts to encourage more participation by members of Parliament, the recommendations of the industry committee and the small business working committee
were also taken into account. All stakeholders supported the move to full cost recovery.
Small business people in Guelph-Wellington know that in order to survive as a nation we will have to choose. They have told me that we can no longer afford the luxuries and excesses of the past. As they have had to do in their businesses, they have asked me to work for them to make decisions on what is important to us and for our future and to concentrate on what will make us strong again.
They do that in their businesses each and every day and they welcome a federal government that from the day of its election in October 1993 does the very same in order to secure a strong future for this country.
As part of our efforts we have introduced a new 1-1/4 per cent annual administration fee on each lender's average outstanding balance of the Small Business Loans Act made after March 31, 1995. We have also announced that the maximum interest rate that a lender can charge under the program has been increased by 1-1/4 per cent.
Bill C-99 also includes changes which will complete the move to full cost recovery and improve the administration of the program. These changes will mean that the Small Business Loans Act will be better targeted toward small business which really needs its help. These changes go hand in hand with our efforts to improve access to loans to small business by our financial institutions. While we aim at cost recovery, our commitment to strengthening the future of small business in Canada is unchanged.
Small business recognizes the need for co-operation. Each and every day in Guelph-Wellington small business leaders rely on distribution, transportation and communication in order to survive. They have called on me to bring a message to Ottawa. Let us work together: government, industry and labour to get the job done.
In Guelph-Wellington we know the importance of listening and working together to build a stronger community. This summer, Wendi Bacon of the Royal Bank Business Centre brought me together again with the leaders of financial institutions throughout my riding. We discussed the concerns of small business people, their frustrations in obtaining capital and their suggestions for strengthening their relationship with the banks.
Everyone recognized that there is more to be done. But it was also an opportunity to review what has happened in the past two years and to remind ourselves that we have met with some success.
Also this summer I had the opportunity to meet with small business people, leaders like Phil Greenway of Danby Products and Dwayne Mott of Orbex Computer Systems who reminded me that they want deficit reduction and they demand that the government plan carefully, consult extensively and act responsibly.
Community leaders like Michael Henry, general manager of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ralph Macdonald of the Rockwood and Eramosa Township Business Association and Mike Lazarakos of the Guelph Small Business Association, bring together business and government in order to work out solutions and most important, to listen to one another in order that we improve and enhance small businesses in Guelph-Wellington.
Small business leaders throughout Canada have told the government that the primary lending issue for them is access, not the cost of financing. We believe that by making the Small Business Loans Act self-sustaining, these changes will ensure that access will continue.
In the past two years I have participated in the ground breaking of a new Purolator facility, welcomed the Minister of Industry as he visited Skyjack and Linamar, walked with the minister of agriculture as he toured Semex, visited countless businesses and congratulated our business leaders on their successes. Guelph-Wellington supports its businesses and it celebrates their successes.
As a former small business manager I share the frustrations of individuals, couples and partners who have a dream and who work hard to establish that dream in a business of their own. I also share the fulfilment and know how enriching owning, operating and working in a small business can be.
I am excited to tell small business owners, managers and employees that the federal government recognizes that it must create a better environment for jobs and growth in the small business sector.
We have eased restrictions on internal trade, proving to the world and to ourselves that federalism works. Removing these barriers is good news to many of the businesses that sell products and provide services to other parts of Canada. This is welcome news to Sleeman's Brewery, which knows that various provincial liquor boards practise selective listing policies. Mackinnon Transport should welcome this initiative. It is aware that transportation regulations differ from province to province. D&J Construction in my riding saw new opportunities because construction procedures are different from one province to another. Trodat Canada, Clear Choice Manufacturing and Autosparks are companies that have told me that our patchwork of regulation standards and various provincial laws are unacceptable to them and to their employees.
We have also opened doors through exports. Canada is a major exporting nation. By forging partnerships with the provinces and working as Team Canada we have built a new approach to selling Canada to the world.
Nipponia Export Limited of Puslinch is one example of this success. During a recent trip to Brazil it sold 200 cattle in a deal worth almost half a million dollars. The University of Guelph re-signed an agreement with a university in Chile. Valcom Limited
recently negotiated joint ventures and recruited distributors at Telecom 95.
The message from the business community of Guelph-Wellington is loud and clear: we can compete, we can produce and we can succeed.
Bill C-99 is not the sole solution to the concerns raised to me by my constituents. It is a part of our strategy to further our commitment to our future. It is legislation which fulfils promises, makes government more accountable through cost recovery and strengthens the relationship that exists between government and business.
We have more to do. Together we must address the problems of the GST and we must eliminate the underground economy. I am proud to be working with union representatives in Wellington county to give suggestions to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Revenue to address an underground economy which costs us revenue and costs us jobs. The underground economy does no Canadian any good. With it we prolong the deficit and we prohibit Canadian men and women from their responsibility of providing for themselves and their families. At the same time the people of Guelph-Wellington look forward to the government fulfilling its promise to replace the GST. We will do that.
We know that it will require all 10 provinces and the federal government to work out a solution to the GST which will make it fairer and simpler and ease the administrative burden on business. Again, my constituents have provided me with suggestions which I have been pleased to forward to the Minister of Finance.
The government remains strongly committed to small business as the main engine of economic growth in Canada. We have been told repeatedly and we are listening. The best that we can do for business, large and small, is to get the deficit under control. The changes that are included in this legislation are a step in the right direction. The user-pay system which is being adopted will mean that it is no longer a contributor to the government's deficit.
The changes ensure that the Small Business Loans Act will continue to be an important public policy tool to foster the growth of small businesses in Canada.
In Guelph-Wellington we like to celebrate our success. We believe we have a workforce that is second to none because we live in the best community in Canada. We know we can accomplish much when we all work together, stay positive, and keep focused. The enthusiasm evident throughout Guelph-Wellington is there because we want to succeed.
Two years ago the people of Guelph-Wellington helped to elect a Liberal government with a mandate for change. I say to my Quebec colleagues that the best anniversary present we can imagine is a united Canada committed to change, change that will result in jobs and growth for Guelph-Wellington and in all 295 ridings in this great country. As part of that mandate, Bill C-99 deserves our support.