Industry committee  Certainly. We're currently looking at offering online types of services to our members so they can actually go in and create their own websites and e-commerce types of websites. We're currently looking at partnerships there so that we might be able provide our members with access

Industry committee  No, we're not. Like most organizations, we do have a special service on the side that we provide to our members as a discount fee through a processor. That's not our partnership with Interac; this is more about working with Interac to help promote small businesses in Canada and t

Industry committee  This particular program of the accelerated capital cost allowance was well used by our membership. I wouldn't say the government is the best at communicating its programs, but certainly we try to do our best—and I'm sure other groups, such as the chamber, do their best—to make su

Industry committee  Yes, that would be true. There's BDC, for example, though it's more of a lending place of last resort. Not that many of our members will tend to go to the BDC; they will go to traditional sources of financing on these types of things. So this is not unusual. IRAP, which is the

Industry committee  We have 109,000 members.

Industry committee  The problem with Statistics Canada is that their data usually takes years to come out. The data they produce is excellent—we use it ourselves in many instances—but often it's two or three years before you finally see the information. I think when it comes to this particular type

Industry committee  Yes, 70% of our members told us in our 2012 survey that they had a website. There, it is just broken out by size of firm, so you have a perspective on the smaller versus the larger firms.

Industry committee  Yes, the last time we did this survey was in 2009, and at that point about 50% had a website, so it's gone up from 50% to 70% in three years. We see that as a fairly significant increase.

Industry committee  Again, it's going to be at the smaller end of the spectrum. It's when you look at those that are sole proprietors, with two to three employees. They may just be starting out as a business and they haven't really had the time to invest in a website yet. Or it could be that they si

Industry committee  Yes, we believe a lot of the barriers in Canada have to do with cost. The cost of doing business is a reality, and to move to an online environment, sometimes there are some costs that you have to undertake, and that can include the cost of the technology itself and the cost of t

Industry committee  Sure. Of course, this was a stimulus measure during 2009 and 2010. We've done a lot of surveying on what was and wasn't effective for our members throughout that period. Aside from the freeze on EI premiums, which was by far the most well liked, this was one of the most well acc

Industry committee  Thank you for the opportunity to be here. With me is Monique Moreau, who will assist with the questions at the end. CFIB is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that represents more than 109,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. Our members represent all se

Finance committee  That changed in 2009. At that point in time when the Canadian Employment Insurance Financing Board was created, all that money then disappeared and it was down to zero, once again. We thought it was the right idea, but it was the wrong time.

Finance committee  Do you mean funding for economic development?

Finance committee  Our members don't necessarily ever benefit from any types of grants or programs from economic development agencies.