Mr. Bates, thanks for being here today.
Many of the owners and managers of the mould, tool and die shops in the Windsor area are not necessarily asking for financial relief at this point. They really want to have a plan. They think they can handle this crisis for one or two more months, but going forward, they need a plan, and they would like that plan to be zero tariffs. They want relief. They want those section 232 tariffs to go away. They want to trade with the United States without tariffs.
I really hope that can be the outcome here. However, if that doesn't happen, we're going to see companies moving to the U.S., closing down or pivoting to other types of business.
One of those changes could be getting into the procurement line for our defence industry.
What changes to procurement processes would be needed to ensure that SMEs can realistically compete for those contracts?