Thank you, Mr. Sorbara.
Yes, Mr. Sorbara is referring to a Toronto-based contractor. In the Toronto area alone, they had 12 major contracts on the go. They've gone into insolvency. Our member surety has moved in. As of the end of 2018, they had paid out, just to trades and suppliers, about a quarter of a billion dollars. Those are small businesses, small trade contractors, electrical and mechanical, that otherwise would have been left high and dry. Many of them would likely have gone out of business without that.
The feedback we've received is that the payment has been prompt, and the jobs are now on the way to being completed or moving toward completion. Without that, again, a great deal of economic upheaval would have been brought down on the local community. As I said in my remarks, that risk is real. It happens every day, and we're the guys who see the results when we have to move in and clean up after these messes occur.