Thank you, Minister, for being here today. We're facing a critical issue, and there's a sense of urgency from people who are coming to sit at this table and speak to us.
You said in your statements that we're doing everything possible, but I have to be frank that we've heard quite the opposite from the witnesses at this committee. We've heard of the dire consequences of these tariffs and the government's failure to get that support directly to people on the ground. Businesses are talking about laying off people. We heard from a business this morning that has laid off 45 people. They have down weeks, which are weeks when people aren't even working in these places. They're all in a very precarious position where they're talking about losing their businesses to the U.S.—or globally at this point—and not being able to get them back. Things are quite serious.
They describe the programs as a failure; they say they're too slow. It's taking four to six months to get some type of response. When they get a response, the money isn't following the response. They're still waiting on the money even if they've received an okay.
There's too much red tape. We've heard from small businesses here at the committee that they don't have the resources to deal with this. BDC and EDC are there for large businesses, but they're not helping our SMEs at all.
There is no SME focus. Smaller companies aren't even applying because of the burdens. They've just simply given up.
During the summer, the NDP and some of my colleagues called for a national tariff task force, not in a partisan fashion, but to address the seriousness of what we're facing here because the program isn't working for so many, and we're losing jobs today.
You announced last week that a committee was being struck. Could you tell us what that committee is, who will be on it and the time frame it has to help people being impacted today?