Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg North for the good work he does there.
Over the last decade, I have spent time working with small business owners through my work with the community business development corporation. Many of the business people with whom I worked were anxious to expand their business capabilities to trade among the provinces, which we have already accomplished through the dropping of interprovincial trade barriers, and to have the opportunity to trade internationally.
The government was elected with a mandate to support small and medium-sized enterprises, and this trade agreement would help support that initiative.