Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Minister Bernier celebrates Tamil business success in Canada

Canada's Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism, Maxime Bernier, celebrated the success and entrepreneurial spirit of the Tamil community in Canada, highlighting their contributions to the Canadian economy.

As part of the Canadian federal government’s pre-budgetary consultations Minister Bernier met with representatives of the Canadian Tamils' Chamber of Commerce (CTCC) in Toronto on Wednesday.

“I can see they have a huge impact, like other small business owners, they’re the true Canadians," Minister Bernier told the Tamil Guardian following the meeting.

“They’re very good entrepreneurs, it’s a plus for us as Canadians to have these entrepreneurs with us,” said the minister, who was Canada's foreign affairs minister during the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Stan Muthulingam, an advisor to the CTCC said the Minister listening closely to input from Tamil entrepreneurs during the meeting, and pledged to take back some of their suggestions and ideas back to Ottawa for the budgetary process.

"It's the first time we're doing budget consultation," Muthulingam told the Tamil Guardian, adding that the Minister seemed receptive to suggestions that new immigrants to Canada receive more information about guidelines for starting small businesses and that the government improve the role of trade commissioners in Canadian embassies around the world to help small businesses export their good and services.

"We have travel, manufacturing, engineering, mobile app developers, accounting firms, consulting, across the spectrum it's a very good group," said Muthulingham, detailing the industries present at the meeting.

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.