Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today on the occasion of the release of the report of the Prime Minister's task force on women entrepreneurs, which I had the honour to chair.
The task force was created in November 2002 to advance the contribution of women entrepreneurs to the economy. In the past year we heard from more than 1,000 women entrepreneurs across the country.
Despite being the fastest growing sector of the Canadian economy, many women entrepreneurs continue to face unique barriers and challenges and they are still not treated seriously by government departments and agencies, or financial institutions.
I would encourage all members of the House to familiarize themselves with the report. It contains a number of practical and achievable recommendations on how we as a government can give greater focus to women entrepreneurs as an important component of Canada's economic development.
I would like to thank everyone who took time to share their stories and provide recommendations on how the government can best support women's entrepreneurship, but most of all, I would like to thank our Prime Minister for his vision and support in creating the task force.