International Trade committee  In a sense, I think that a tool like this does allow SMEs seeking to export to access some financing. We also work with partners, like the BDC and others, that provide companies with that kind of financing.

International Trade committee  In a sense, that is somewhat the role of this program: to share the risk with companies wishing to export. It did not exist at the time of the report you mention. I would say that there has been an improvement since this program has gone into effect.

International Trade committee  I would just add that we communicate the results to our trade commissioner service, and recipients agree that we offer practical services to help them and support them in their efforts internationally. Typically, if a company is not already working with the trade commissioner s

International Trade committee  In the first months of the program, we were more proactive with the promotion. We communicated with about 1,000 people, either by telephone or in person. These were people who could spread the word, such as provincial partners, other federal partners, chambers of commerce, and so

International Trade committee  Perhaps I can answer that. If a company supplies a product like food, it would actually be covered by the AgriMarketing program. They operate under conditions quite similar to ours, but with more money than our program. That said, a number of companies that are part of the foo

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. It's true that there have been some refusals based on the fact that a company didn't have the revenues. However, in previous programs and other programs of the same nature, usually the threshold would be much higher, often above $1 million and someti

International Trade committee  We do. We redirect them to our regional network of the trade commissioner service to help them prepare for international markets, since sometimes that's the step they might have missed. We also refer them to the concierge service, which is a little bit of a one-stop shop, as you

International Trade committee  Are you asking about the number of recipients in British Columbia specifically?

International Trade committee  It's 87.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. I don't have a specific number, but I can tell you that the median of 17 should maybe be a pointer. There are quite a few companies that are in that range. I don't have the exact statistics, but frequently we have really small companies that are inte

International Trade committee  Thanks for the question. Europe has been the second-largest region. If we compare North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, Europe would come in as the second-largest pool of recipients in terms of money and number of companies that have been appro

International Trade committee  Sure. I think it would be difficult to know, quite frankly, because we have information on the company and we have the name of some of the signing authorities from the company, but we do not ask for that sort of information—for instance, if someone just came to Canada or not—so