Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. parliamentary secretary for his question and for all the work he does on the industry committee to ensure that we all have our say and that our points of view listened to. I appreciate that has not always been the case.
In response to the member's question there can be no doubt that we should not continue present programs or introduce new ones without a thorough review of their effectiveness. In particular when we are dealing with government intervention into the marketplace it is absolutely critical that intervention actually helps matters along rather than make them worse.
We have seen programs galore which actually make matters worse. We have to focus on the role government can play in the context of the economy as a whole to do things that other stakeholders cannot do.
In the context of this piece of legislation it is clear that financial institutions are not fulfilling their responsibility toward small business. It is therefore important for the Government of Canada and society as a whole to push the banks to fulfil that responsibility. After all, they make profits out of us. They should recommit those profits to the communities and to the people from which they make those profits. It is their responsibility to do that. It is their right to make a profit but they have a responsibility to contribute too.
In addition to forcing the issue and using all the good offices of the government to ensure that banks fulfil that responsibility, it is appropriate the government on behalf of all of us provide some small assistance to small businesses because of the critically important role they play in our economy as they struggle to obtain the capital investment they need.
It is critically important that we review all these things and that we do not, as the Reform Party would do, dismiss every government program as irrelevant, as a nuisance or as something that cannot help without actually reviewing it.
The Small Business Loans Act is plainly one of those pieces of legislation that actually helps. Surely we should not let ideology blind us to common sense programs which assist those in need.