Mr. Speaker, for many years now Canada has been experiencing a growth in its economy and an increase in the number of working Canadians.
Much of this success is a direct result of the significant work of the Canadian tourism industry and its many small businesses. Currently 99.6% of tourism businesses meet the Statistics Canada definition of small or medium size enterprises, based on numbers of businesses. Of these, 97% are small companies.
Over the last decade Canada's tourism sector has outperformed the general economy, both in revenue generated and employment growth. This is a very impressive record.
Today I congratulate the tourism industry for its contribution to the Canadian economy and commend the tourism representatives present in Ottawa today for their strong commitment to the viability and sustainability of this dynamic industry sector.