Mr. Speaker, I will begin by putting to rest the hon. member's concerns. Being a member of a small business association within the area that I did business prior to being elected, one of the biggest concerns people within that organization raised was not so much that they did not think access to capital was an important issue, I do not think anyone is arguing that, but what they did raise was that there was limited choice, as the hon. member mentioned, with traditional lenders. That is the whole problem of our system and the problem I tried to raise.
We cannot fix the problem with band-aid solutions as we have seen in the Small Business Loans Act and the revised version. We need to address the issue of choice within the financial sector. That is the issue we are talking about.
The Reform Party and all its members in opposing this bill are telling the government that it is time to address the issue of access to capital with the issue of choice. Do not continue down this road of government regulation which unfortunately continues to put obstacles and additional costs in the way of small business.
If the hon. member really felt that he was putting business first, I think he would come to see the same light the Reform Party has seen.