Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business recently released a report stating the Canadian banking industry has a bias against women entrepreneurs because women had a 20 per cent higher refusal rate than men on commercial loans and paid 1 per cent more than male entrepreneurs on average.
It could be argued the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is wrong. A Statistics Canada national survey of small business in November 1994 said the difference was 6 per cent-18 per cent for males, 24 per cent for women-and the difference may be reflective of industry preference and not gender bias. In August 1994 an Industry Canada report concluded that gender did not influence interest rates charged on commercial loans.
We should be careful not to create problems. We have enough as it is. Engendering a victim mentality based on gender will do nothing to inspire men or women to become entrepreneurs.