Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank all of the representatives here today, and I want to thank you for your frankness, which I can only attribute to your genuine concern about the procurement proposal that was put forward. I commend you on your willingness, and I guess it's out of necessity that you want to keep engaged and hopefully get this process back on track, so that hopefully our procurement process will be improved without getting derailed.
We know that the government started off by paying $24 million to a contractor—14 times their contract—in order to come up with a plan that, as you stated today, would have the effect of squeezing out small and medium businesses. As we heard Monsieur Comtois say earlier, it could also have the effect of sourcing very large contracts outside the country.
Canadian business is obviously central to our economy. Small and medium businesses are a huge part of our economy. It's a source of innovation and a huge source of jobs. It's a sector we want to continue flourishing as successful companies in Canada. We have jobs in Canada, then people pay taxes, and this creates the services and infrastructure, so that we can continue to have a healthy economy and buy goods and services.
We've heard about the impact of the current procurement procedure that's proposed by the federal government and what that could mean for the temporary work sector.
Before we end, I would like to hear from the furniture manufacturers about the impact. What is the current number of companies, the number of jobs, and what could the impact be if there is no change to the procurement process as proposed?