Mr. Speaker, it is nice to hear a question with a preamble I agree with.
First I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the Standing Committee on Industry and members of the House of Commons who contributed to the work on small business. As well there are the committees chaired by Phil O'Brien and Brien Gray. They did excellent work in advising the government on small business.
I would like to mention that reform of the Federal Business Development Bank mandate and lending authorities is coming soon. We have extended and increased the limit under the Small Businesses Loans Act. We have maintained the small business deduction and the capital gains exemption for small business. We have increased the funding for CANARIE, in its efforts to bring the small business community on to the information highway. We have increased funding for tourism promotion, which is going to help small business across Canada. We have seen improvements in the-