To be clear, I'm asking about assistance that was offered.
If I remember correctly, Isabelle Hudon was the one who said that the loan guarantees applied mainly to businesses that traded with the United States. That makes a certain amount of sense. However, in the forestry sector, a sawmill with a capacity of, say, 300,000 cubic metres or less is generally considered medium-sized and may focus on the domestic market. A Quebec-based company, for instance, does business in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada but does not necessarily export its products.
In recent years, due to market dynamics, large forestry companies have partially withdrawn from the U.S. market and have been increasingly selling their products on the Canadian market, thereby competing with small businesses. Those small businesses do not have access to the liquidity program, and I wonder if that's still the case.
I spoke with Minister Hodgson about this, and he told me he was in favour of reforming the existing system.
Does the program still apply only to businesses that have money held in trust at the border? Is that still the case?