I'm Rory Ring, CEO for the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce. You'll be hearing from Tenaris Tubes. They'll be addressing you on the 23rd. Essar Algoma is here today.
Sault Ste. Marie has lost 2500 people in the last five years. Our business community has shrunk by 500 and we have felt the impacts of the non-market economies circumventing trade legislation. It goes right down to the suppliers of steel-toed boots and the suppliers of pizza. We see it right on the street and it's affecting our small and medium-sized companies and their ability to innovate, to recycle capital into addressing carbon footprint, and to develop innovations and create partnerships with secondary and post-secondary institutions to build out their R and D capacities.