This past decade provided us all with some real challenges starting with Y2K and ending with an unprecedented global economic crisis.
 
Yet, as we welcome 2010, Canada (and especially we folks here in the Okanagan) have a great deal to be thankful for and many reasons to be excited and encouraged.
  
Canada and the Okanagan have almost everything the world wants and needs in both human and natural resources.  We are also home to some of the world's most talented and creative entrepreneurs.

The result is a strong small and medium-sized business sector.  

According to a survey which was released in late 2009 by Sherry Cooper of the Bank of Montreal, Kelowna, one of two of the fasted growing metropolitan areas in British Columbia, outranks every major city in Canada with the highest percentage of small business intensity per 1000 people.

Over 98 percent of all businesses in Canada are small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) employing almost half of our workforce.  In fact, even in recent recessionary times, the small business sector outperformed the rest of the economy. 

This sector’s performance can be attributed, first and foremost, to the tenacity and determination of its business owners who, despite some real challenges, continue to persevere. 

Secondly, small and medium sized business relies on a responsive Government. 

Since becoming Minister of State for Small Business, Diane Ablonczy has crossed the country and listened carefully.  As a result, the Government ensured there were measures in the Economic Action Plan to help business through the downturn. 

The Government has freed up credit and helped make more financing available to business, put targeted tax relief measures in place lowering the small business tax rate to 11%, and continues to find ways to reduce red tape.

It is investing in our colleges and universities like Okanagan College and UBCO so that our business sector has the skilled labour and R&D support it requires to remain innovative and competitive.

And it continues to open up new market opportunities by forging strong trade relationships with growing economies including India, China and South America.

This week for instance, I am writing this column from my hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan where 7 of my colleagues and I have travelled to meet with President Ma Ying-Jeou and his officials to discuss trade issues including the importation of Canadian beef, new markets for other agricultural products like our fine Okanagan wine and promotion of our tourism sector and all it has to offer, especially during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

That is not to say that the business sector is free from ongoing challenges.  The present economic situation is the cause of some real constraints on our Okanagan manufacturing sector including high transportation & land costs, a volatile Canadian dollar and stiff international competition. 

Our boat manufacturers for instance have been acutely affected by the economic downturn.  Yet, I am encouraged by the dedication and commitment of folks like Brock Elliott and his team at Campion Boats to keep moving forward by building better boats and searching out new markets.

In fact, with the leadership shown by our small and medium-sized businesses combined with the support of our governments and other innovative private sector organizations we are well-positioned to lead the Okanagan to a solid economic recovery.

The opportunities awaiting us as we embark on the next decade are very promising!

Ron Cannan is the Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country and can be reached at 250 470-5075 or ron@cannan.ca.  For more information on ways the federal government is helping small and medium-sized business including starting your own business, please go to www.canadabusiness.ca.