Contractors, subcontractors and small businesses.
If we make a cautious but unfortunate decision after several months of absorbing the income losses caused by tariffs, we'll survive just fine because we have deep roots.
On the other hand, forestry contractors operating with a backhoe, a harvester and a logging truck to transport wood have only one type of activity and only one customer: us. The worst part is that, in many cases, these businesses have been passed down from one generation to the next so there's a lot of business succession in the country's economy in general. These are entrepreneurs who have taken over the family business, so they're subject to the usual financial obligations associated with succession, which puts them under extreme pressure. They are forgotten in all this.
New regulations, like the ones we're proposing today, are designed to get more commercial and institutional buildings built taking into account embodied carbon, and Build Canada Homes is taking off, so we need these people and their businesses to survive. We need these workers, who will not be incentivized or encouraged to change careers because opportunities are opening up for us. We strongly believe in the sector's vitality and potential.
These smaller companies, which are the most vulnerable, are being forgotten. We absolutely have to talk about them and come up with a collective solution to get them through this crisis. Their situation is a bit like during the COVID‑19 pandemic lockdown because they cannot work.