Mr. Speaker, I am very interested in the comments of my hon. colleague.
I would like to tell members a little story. I was talking to a businessman who runs a small sawmill in British Columbia not far from where I live. He said that when the NDP took over the government in British Columbia he had $200,000 in the bank. He said that of course is long gone. He said that after this NDP government last year he had a really good year. He lost only $10,000. This is what the NDP has done to British Columbia.
The Small Business Loans Act is an important piece of legislation. It is to support small business people, entrepreneurs who are trying to create business, opportunities and employment in Canada. But it takes the initiative of the government, it takes the support of the provincial government and it takes the courage of the entrepreneurs to do this.
Part of the difficulty with this bill as the auditor general has pointed out is that there are too many conflicting ideas about how many jobs it is creating and the government overestimates this. He also has said that this bill is supporting the lending institutions probably more than the small business people and I believe this should be rectified.
I would like to ask the hon. member, in light of what is happening in British Columbia, how his socialistic premises are going to improve the opportunities of small business people when governments like the New Democratic Party government in British Columbia have done everything that they can to bring small business and big business to its knees.