Thank you, MP Masse. It's great to see you here. Thanks for the question.
This supply chain is a very evolved, complex and highly integrated supply chain that we have in North America, specifically when it comes to the automotive industry. This has been built over a hundred years of work between collaborators, between companies that stretch on both sides of the border, between states and between provinces. This is not something that's been built overnight.
The importance of it was very clearly highlighted during the blockade we had. Every day, half a billion dollars' worth of goods crosses the Windsor-Essex border. For the goods crossing the bridge that was blocked, it's about $350 million. This blockade put at risk not just the companies in the Windsor-Essex region but also the companies on both sides of the border, businesses that supply to auto assembly operations not just in Canada but also in the U.S. and in many cases also outside of the North American continent.
The blockade was a major issue not just because of what it did for the current operations and the assembly operations, many of which were idled. There was also the message it was sending to our partners across the border, that if this were to continue, or if this were to happen again, it would be a time for them to look at sourcing some of the components locally and not really rely on Canadian businesses and Canadian supply chain partners. Hence, the risk was significantly more than just what the blockade resulted in, which was the immediate ceasing of operations at some of the assembly operations.
In terms of the supply chain, it is a well-known fact that a product before it's fully assembled in one of the assembly operations on either side of the border has travelled seven times between the border. That's the level of integration. There are many manufacturing companies on this side in Canada in the Windsor-Essex region and many on the other side. They collaborate and the parts get assembled. They get processed and then finally assembled in the vehicle assembly operations.
This is a very evolved supply chain. It justifies the amount of effort that goes into keeping the border open and ensuring that the Canadian economy is never put at risk. It's something that we're very proud Windsor-Essex plays an extremely important role in.