I understand that your organization and the National Truck Equipment Association in the US have developed a training program, with technical input from Transport Canada, to assist vehicle manufacturers and modifiers to understand and meet their compliance and reporting obligations under the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Transport Canada is pleased to be part of this initiative and we are confident that this is going to provide long-term benefits to your industry. Even though Transport Canada has an enforcement role in ensuring that the requirements of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act are complied with, our first approach is that of educator, or facilitator, to assist industry in meeting these obligations. To accomplish this, it is important that a good working relationship be maintained with industry through associations such as yours, since you have the ability to pool resources to help your industry become knowledge-based and also to increase the competitiveness of the Canadian transportation equipment sector. Virtual big businesses I would now like to speak about the Canadian economy an economy which is built on small business.
Small businesses have certain advantages.
They are more flexible and can respond to niche opportunities. Companies like yours show a remarkable ability to custom design and manufacture for specific purposes. But one disadvantage of being a small business is that you have to compete on the same playing field as big business you have to meet the same standards. And when it comes to testing to meet those standards, the costs can be high for you. Industry associations like this one serve a very important role in helping smaller companies pool their resources to achieve economies of scale.