It's a difficult one. I think about the workers in your region who are being negatively affected, because this is really hurting a lot of communities in Canada that produce steel. It is not easy. Some of what the government is rolling out is good. EI and workforce measures are good things. At the same time, those become accessible to people only when they've lost their jobs. It's kind of a small comfort. Most people I know would rather not lose their job than know that EI will be more accessible when they need it. Finding ways to avoid that, I think, is paramount.
The government's plans to buy Canadian steel in government procurement is an interesting option and something that should be explored. It's better to exploit the internal market and get Canadians to buy more Canadian steel. That's also good and something I support.
Having said that, we need to be careful how we do that. With the Americans in particular, the section 232 tariffs are devastating: 50% is too high. The government needs to address the section 232 tariffs on steel as a primary objective. It's my understanding that they are seized with this, but it cannot wait until the end of USMCA negotiations to find an end result for that; we need something sooner.
