One out of every four Canadians can thank the export initiatives and entrepreneurial spirit of Canadian companies for his or her own job. This activity must continue to grow if we want to maintain our quality of life and create exciting career opportunities for our daughters, our sons and their children. Our major challenge internationally stems from being a small cog in a hugely competitive marketplace. Canadian companies, even the biggest, are not large compared to their international rivals. To compete successfully, you need muscle, you need savvy and, although it may seem mundane, you also need to provide credit.
International business is no different.
Thus, EDC was born in 1944 to help Canada grow and prosper as a nation. Our growth is a reflection of our customers' success. We also measure our success in many other ways, from our high customer satisfaction, to our strong financial performance. Last year alone, we served about 5,200 Canadian customers, of whom nearly 90 per cent were small to mid-sized firms. Thousands more small businesses have grown by being suppliers to larger Canadian exporters.