Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour for his comments and question, both of which strike me as very pertinent.
I started my presentation by saying that legislation on small business loans has to be able to meet not only today's needs, but tomorrow's as well.
The question of the Internet came close to home for me, because a number of people have come to my office with such projects in past years, when the Internet was just starting out. Financial institutions and development agencies had to be educated about it. Now, more of them, the Mouvement Desjardins in particular, are open to this new way of doing business. When guarantees are involved, there is more consideration given to the quality of an idea than to the size of a building.
A new and particular sensitivity is needed. There must be assurance that a bill like the one before us now contains such provisions. I believe it contains some interesting elements as far as the regulations the department will be introducing and the attitude of the financial institutions are concerned.
As time goes by we will see whether financial institutions have indeed met expectations, because this bill left room for a choice. As was done at one point in the past, we could have tried making it very coercive, forcing businesses into a far more open attitude. They were given the chance. Players were given a chance.
But this does not mean they should take advantage of this to kill people's spirit of innovation. When novel projects come along, they must be given proper consideration. Such matters are not necessarily resolved by legislation, either. It is a question of making our financial institutions open minded, and I think they have succeeded in doing so to some extent.
However, I would caution the House and all Canadians that we will not fix the problem necessarily by creating huge financial institutions. People need access to financial institutions they trust and where they get proper service, especially a variety of choices.
In this regard, a lot of effort is required, which does not necessarily relate to the Small Business Loans Act, but which is related more to all the other financing tools available to business, whether we are talking about insurance schemes or other forms of loans. Some experiments have been made.
A look at the accomplishments of the workers' fund known as the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs in the area of new technologies, for example, reveals fantastic development. This is a union federation that was created with the help of the Government of Quebec, which provided an initial shot in the arm. This investment fund today has grown beyond the stage of protecting traditional jobs. It invests in new technology sectors and internationally to promote growth in developing and developed countries, but with the view that the jobs created there are the highest paying technical jobs.
I think this openness should be encouraged to spread. I say to the member for Richelieu that I think in 10 or 15 years those open to these new ideas will permit our businesses to take root throughout the world. These business will have penetrated several markets because somewhere, at the right time, a bank or credit union manager will have been open to a new idea, and interested in supporting it and helping the business start up.
We should not think that 75 years ago Bombardier was what it is today. It was not born a giant. It started with a creative man who had a good idea, was very tenacious, and brought it to fruition. Later he was followed by people who developed it even further.
But to do so, they needed financial assistance from individuals with an open mind. For every success story like this one, there are graveyards full of projects that failed, not necessarily because they were not good, but because they were not viewed with openness and did not receive the support they needed.
I believe that today by passing the Small Business Financing Act we are giving a helping hand to businesses and the economy in our regions. It is up to them to take advantage of it.
It is up to them to make the best of it, to make sure they know how to use it well. If within two, three or five years, we realize financial institutions are not open enough, we will have to have the guts to correct the situation, and fast. In economic terms, two, three or five years is a very long time. One must have the courage to move very fast, to take the required corrective measures.
Hopefully the bill before us today will meet today's demands as well as demands over the next few years.