Mr. Speaker, I spoke to the earlier amendments and I am delighted to speak to the amendments put forward in Group No. 4, Motions Nos. 7 and 8.
Motion No. 7 was put forward by the official opposition. Motion No. 8 was put forward by the Bloc. I will be supporting Motion No. 7, but I have no reason to support Motion No. 8.
Motion No. 7 would entirely delete two pilot projects aimed at expanding the loans program to the volunteer and capital lease sectors of the economy. Capital lease ventures are those in which the major assets of the business are leased. This serves to lessen the amount of money that can be recovered from the sale of assets in the case of default. The volunteer sector is made up of not for profit organizations. The Reform Party can rightly question why the taxpayer should be guaranteeing loans made to non-profit organizations.
The Reform Party opposes the initiative outlined in clause 13 of Bill C-53 as it represents a broadening of the program that we cannot support in principle.
The Small Business Loans Act is intended to help small businesses in our economy. Small businesses are the engine of the economy. They keep the economy running. Ninety-six per cent of the jobs in this country are created by small businesses.
The Liberal government promotes bigger and larger businesses. It forgets about the small businesses. Small businesses are already under pressure. They have to pay high premiums for employment insurance. They have to pay high premiums for the CPP. They have all kinds of red tape. Government is on the backs of small businesses.
On the contrary, the government is giving subsidies, guarantees, loans and all kinds of good things to big business. Recently the government gave a $25 million tax free loan to Bombardier. The government is taking care of big business, not small business.
When the government expands the scope of the SBLA to volunteer or non-profit organizations, it deprives smaller businesses of the opportunity to get financing from this program. The intent of the act is therefore defeated. Neither my colleague nor I can support this expansion of the Small Business Loans Act.
Motion No. 8 was put forward by the Bloc. It would effectively expand the loan provision contained in the pilot project advanced by Bill C-53. This pilot project includes the ability of industry to grant loans to the volunteer and capital sectors of the economy. This would deprive entrepreneurs of the opportunity to start a business and create jobs.
The Reform Party is fundamentally opposed to expanding the loans program to include volunteer organizations in our economy. All our MPs will support the initiative or any amendment to enhance prospects to help small business. Based on that our position is very clear. We cannot support any amendment or any of the sections which will expand the scope away from small business to anywhere else.
The auditor general clearly identified in his report that larger organizations had been taking advantage, that smaller organizations had been collaborating, and that subsidies applied to other organizations that had received further loans. The system has already been abused. The auditor general has made some clear observations in that regard.
Rather than clarifying the situation, making it simpler and focusing on small business, the government intends to diversify the scope so that small businesses will have to compete with medium and larger organizations for financing. Through this amendment they will have to compete with non-profit and volunteer organizations.
If government wants to support volunteer organizations there are other means to do it. We do not mean that volunteer organizations should not be supported, but they should not be allowed to compete with smaller businesses.
The government always gets things wrong. It has been supporting larger businesses. I gave an example the other day of being on the verge of an storm. When the storm comes the bigger trees will fall and the smaller plants such as the grass will remain green. Small organizations have this ability because they are grassroots organizations run by between two and five individuals, but they will only survive the storm if we support them. We need to nourish the small business sector of our economy if we want the system to work.
In summary, government should set things right in terms of how the economy works. The government should look at employment records to see who creates the jobs. Many times the government pats itself on the back because it has created jobs. It is not government that creates jobs. It is the small business sector or its entrepreneurs that create jobs.
I have been an entrepreneur. I have been involved with small businesses from time to time. I understand as many other small business entrepreneurs understand. Small businesses are independent organizations. The small business organization, the CFIB, has 90,000 members. It has been pleading with the government to ensure small businesses can take advantage of the act.
In a nutshell I ask government members to look into the effectiveness of the program to ensure that it achieves the objectives for which it was intended. With these observations in mind I am hesitant to support the amendment made by the Bloc, but I will support Motion No. 7 put forward by the hon. member for Saskatoon—Humboldt which highlights the withdrawal of that clause.