Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a few comments because setting up businesses and entrepreneurship are issues of great importance to me.
Before becoming a politician, I took a course on how to start up a business. This program was designed to help people with business ideas to get ahead, help them to develop a business plan, seek financing and, finally, help them reach the crucial stage, which is the setting up of their business.
The various stages of setting up a business are quite important, in my opinion, and I am familiar with them. Furthermore, it was one of my favorite themes, mainly on the regional level, when I entered politics.
I represent the riding of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, a region which has been greatly developed by big business. Even nowadays, we are still very happy that big business has decided to reinvest in our region. The largest private investment project in Canada and in North America is located in Alma, in my riding.
Sometimes, it is said that the uncertainty chases investors away. But it can truly be said that it is not the case in Alma. A very interesting partnership has developed among several stakeholders, namely unions, people who contacted the plant, etc. It is a real breath of fresh air for us, but I still say that we should not rely solely on big business for regional development. We should diversify our economy. The establishment of small and medium size businesses can play a major role in job creation.
In fact, this is what I am still doing. I encourage people in my region to try to set up their own business. If the economy is going well, it is even easier for SMEs to develop very precise niches in order to meet the needs of big business.
This is undoubtedly an avenue we should encourage as much as possible at the regional level.
A few weeks ago, I was at the gala of the Haut-Saguenay CFDC. In that area, people are working very closely together. In very small municipalities, the establishment of one or two businesses can make an enormous difference for the local economy.
In Alma, which is at the eastern tip of my riding, we set up a single window office one year ago. For many potential small businessmen, the difficulty is to get to know where to access know-how and financing. People do not know where to go to get technical and financial support. We have therefore created a single window office where every potential small businessman can get advice.
Everyone in this House is in favour of job creation. I certainly want to see jobs created in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region. As my colleague, the hon. member for Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques said, the best way to distribute wealth remains job creation. In this respect employment remains a matter of dignity for every individual. It is therefore extremely important.
What does it take to start up a business in order to eventually create employment: highly specialized skills, research, development, technical training, marketing intelligence, market research, distribution, production and sales? In the end, when the products or services are marketed, jobs will be generated.
As we can see, there are several stages in the job creation process, and small business people can appreciate the problems associated with starting up a business.
That is not all small business is about, and this is a debate we take to heart, especially as it relates to diversity. It is often said that small is beautiful. Small and medium size businesses often succeed in finding very specific opportunities in very specific markets. That is the beauty of the market economy. It has been criticized by many people today, starting with myself. I do blame on the market economy a number of current trends, including the trend to merge companies. Businesses tend more and more to merge, and it seems that this tends to kill diversity.
Small businesses are bucking this trend. They bring diversity and healthy competition to the economy. This is good for everyone.
When I talk about mergers and I look ten years into the future, I sometimes wonder where this will lead us. It often reminds me of the game that taught me capitalism, the game of Monopoly. Everybody starts off with the same amount of money, but the player who succeeds in buying everyone else's property as the game progresses is the winner. These are things we must think about in our economic system.
Starting up a business requires considerable resources. One method I recommend is the blending of knowledge, expertise, ideas and money. Two years ago, I designed a program aimed in that direction, because I knew perfectly well that, normally, it takes a business idea to start up a business. Not everyone has business ideas.
One needs to have business acumen, and this is something that needs to be demystified. It is estimated that 10% of the population has some business acumen, which means that they want to expand their horizons and want to be their own boss. Taking on such a responsibility is not for everyone.
I think we need to bring together people who have business ideas with people who have some business acumen and, of course, people with money problems, and that brings us to the very heart of the matter, which is the financing issue. When starting up a business, money is everything and one of the biggest problems is the financing, which is addressed in this bill.
When the hon. member for Mercier brought this piece of legislation to our attention, I thought it important to consult with businesses back home who probably had had dealings with the Small Business Loans Program.
It could be useful to potential business owners to know that the purpose of this bill is to increase the availability of financing for the establishment, expansion, modernization and improvement of—