It was a very important day for Canada. It was a very important day for our economy when we announced that these tariffs had been lifted, both the tariffs imposed by the Americans and our response. You may recollect that we responded very quickly, dollar for dollar, to these unjust and unfair tariffs imposed under section 232 by the administration under the guise of national security.
Above and beyond that, we also put forward a $2-billion support package, which you highlighted. This is to say that until we resolve this issue with the tariffs, we need to continue to support the sector. That was through financing through BDC, particularly for smaller businesses, and also through EDC, to help a lot of the steel and aluminum companies to export and to make sure they had financing.
Also, $250 million was allocated through the strategic innovation fund. The goal there was to help our businesses, particularly our producers, to be more competitive. Of that $250 million, close to $180 million has been committed already for different initiatives and projects. Some have been announced, and we'll continue to announce the remaining ones going forward.
To answer your question more directly, we absolutely will continue to support the steel and aluminum sectors. They're a critical part of our economy. They employ tens of thousands of people directly and tens of thousands of people indirectly in communities across the country. We're very optimistic about the future of the steel and aluminum sector.