The Canada Small Business Financing Program seeks to increase the availability of loans for establishing, expanding, modernizing and improving small businesses. It does this by encouraging financial institutions to make their financing available to small businesses. Under the Program, a small business must apply for a loan at a financial institution (bank, credit union or caisse populaire) of its choice. If the loan is granted by the financial institution, the federal government will reimburse 85 percent of the lender’s losses in the event of default.