I thank the hon. member very much for the question.
First, the whole concept of a guarantee creates the opportunity for the bank to loan money that clearly it would not loan on its own accord. I note in the legislation that in fact we have actually lowered the loan guarantee from 90 per cent to 85 per cent. If we simply look at the growth and the volume within the small business loans program in the last three years, there is no question that there has been a demand, and a demand that has been satiated, if you will, by financial institutions.
Clearly, the program is on a success course and it continues to be on a success course. In fact it was the government's orientation to say this was very successful and we want it to expand, we want it to grow more, we want to make sure there is more money available for small and medium sized businesses; but at the same time, we also want to make sure we are not going to be on the hook for it.
One of the complaints of this program has been that a lot of the money was getting out to businesses that could have possibly financed loans without the Small Business Loans Act; in other words, possibly banks were misusing the program or possibly larger companies were getting the benefits of the program and they did not really need it. By lowering the guarantee aspect of this loan, we will also be ensuring that we direct it at the very new and emerging small and medium sized businesses.