International Trade committee  As of May 13, only 25% of our members who are required to register on the portal, because they import, were registered.

International Trade committee  Yes. There are still a lot of other concerns about the portal. We'd like to see changes and more flexibility for small businesses, but that will give them time to fully understand the system and the various functions of the portal. We have a bit more time to work with the Canada Border Services Agency and explain to small businesses how the portal works.

International Trade committee  Communication could be improved. Documents are often given a few days in advance and use language that's difficult for Canadian entrepreneurs to understand. There are also ongoing changes, and the way they're communicated further confuses the situation.

International Trade committee  We hope so. We're doing everything we can to educate our members on the portal and to make sure they're registered. Next week, we'll be holding a webinar to show them how to register, and we'll certainly hold another one over the summer to ensure that the number of businesses that are fulfilling their obligation to sign up for the portal continues to increase.

International Trade committee  Yes. Actually, the survey we did in January asked questions around how exporting can help grow businesses, and we did find that a majority of businesses were seeking international opportunities to help grow their business. I do have the deck here, and I'd be happy to circulate that information with you afterwards with the exact data, but that is certainly one of the findings from that survey.

International Trade committee  I think it can come back to a lot of the comments made by Jasmin about the cost of doing business. There's a lot of cost and regulatory burden on small businesses right now, which impact their day-to-day operations, so the idea of looking into customs procedures just adds another task, right?

International Trade committee  We have to look at that by industry, right? Certain services and goods are not exportable, but what we're seeing is fairly common across the industry. It's the agricultural businesses that are looking for other markets and looking to expand. It's the wholesale. It's the manufacturing.

International Trade committee  That's a good question. We do have some data on where small businesses are exporting. The top exporting market is the U.S., because of its proximity. I can certainly share the slides with you following this meeting and you can take a look, but the number in Canada is quite small in regard to the Asian Indo-Pacific market.

International Trade committee  I would be happy to come to see you, yes.

International Trade committee  Yes. I mean, we have been working closely with CBSA in terms of trying to educate them on the CARM portal. When it comes specifically to investing in certain markets, there are always opportunities for us to host webinars and educate our members. That's certainly not something currently on our radar at the time, but educating our members on the programs that exist from the federal level is certainly something that we continue to do.

International Trade committee  I hope you don't mind if I answer in English. The big challenge for small business is the fact that they're not experts in customs procedures. Filling out all the documentation, border transactions and having access to agents all contribute to the issues they experience at the borders.

International Trade committee  In January 2024 we conducted a survey on international trade. We found that in the past three years, 31% of SMEs exported goods, services or both; and 63% of SMEs were not involved in exporting and did not plan to do so at all. These rates at which SMEs export have not changed since the last time we conducted the survey, in 2017.