Madam Speaker, I will deal with the motions and then with some of the comments members of the opposition parties have put forward.
We will be supporting Motion No. 20 put forward by the member from Trois-Rivières. We will also be supporting Motions Nos. 24 and 25. Motion No. 24 is ours and Motion No. 25 is put forward by the Reform Party. All other motions in this section we will be opposing.
I will deal with some of the concerns the member for Trois-Rivières put forward and some of the concerns expressed by our colleague from Simcoe Centre. Before I do, I will deal with some of the comments made by the hon. member for Kamloops.
The member said earlier the government has missed a tremendous opportunity to move this bank forward with a very specific mandate to help small business.
We will not miss that opportunity. Even though in the committee we felt strongly about the name that was on the bill-it was changed today-there is one thing we will make sure the Business Development Bank of Canada does: we will make sure that its marketing thrust will be centred around the small business sector.
Make absolutely no mistake that as sure as I am standing here, if there is one issue this Prime Minister continues to be committed to with all the energy and passion he has-and I say that straight out-it is the small business sector.
Through you, Madam Speaker, to the opposition members and especially to the member for Kamloops, who, like myself, has campaigned vigorously in this House in opposition and in government, we have not let go and we will not let go. And we will not let the executive of this government forget that we were given the trust 20 months ago due in large part to the Prime Minister's commitment and the Minister of Finance's commitment even before the red book that we were going to be the government that championed small business and we were going to be the government that took on the financial institutions of this country, the chartered banks.
There is not a member on this side of the House who will stand up and defend the chartered banks of Canada and say that they are doing a great job for small business. If anyone can find a member on the government side of the House who will stand up and say that the banks of Canada are doing a great job for small business, name them. I certainly could not find one. We talk about this among ourselves and in our ridings. We are committed to that sector.
Getting back to this bill, this Business Development Bank will be committed to small business. I want to read into the record a note from the newly appointed chairman of the board of this bank, which I just received. He has been listening to this debate. I was summoned to the phone by him and I received a letter. We are going to make him accountable for this letter by reading it into Hansard . It is from Patrick J. Lavelle, the chairman of the board of the Business Development Bank of Canada:
In passing this legislation, the House is giving the bank expanded powers and greater responsibilities. The implementation of which will test the mettle of the banks directors and its management.
This House isn't giving the bank a blank check. The mandate calls for the bank to increase its activities in the new economy of Canada, in telecommunications, biotechnology and other technologies of the future. We must not abandon the declining sectors but we must see change and progress in the new ones.
The determination of the banks portfolio should reflect the country in that all regions: the Atlantic, Ontario, as well as Quebec and the West see increases in the availability of capital; after all that is what the bank is supposed to do.
The new bank with its new name should be visible and accountable. And we are going to bring the banks management before the committee to gauge what actions they are taking to fulfil their new mandate as quickly as possible.
Make no mistake the expectations for the bank are high and it will take extra efforts on the part of the management and its directors to achieve the promised results.
I want to deal specifically with the concerns the Bloc Quebecois has. They talk-