Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for his passion and, more importantly, his commitment to supporting workers. I am glad he recognizes that the specific bill we are proposing and the changes we are proposing are going to provide flexibility to steel workers right across the country. This is really important because it complements the $2 billion support package we put forward when we were dealing with the initial unfair and unjustified tariffs by the Americans.
When they imposed those tariffs, we responded dollar for dollar, but above and beyond that, we also said we are going to support industry within Canada. That included support from Export Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada and the strategic innovation fund. All this was combined for $2 billion worth of support. I would like to take this opportunity to provide a quick update to the House on the benefits that companies have received from this support to deal with these very difficult times.
Through EDC we have put forward $151 million in support of numerous companies across the country to help them with their export financing. BDC has deployed $364 million of its funds to support businesses that were dealing with cashflow issues, which needed the additional capital to be able to deal with the unfair, unjustified tariffs imposed under section 232; and we also have made three significant announcements under the strategic innovation fund, totalling $120 million. All said and done, that is over $700 million that directly impacted small and medium-sized businesses and supported the workers in the steel sector right across the country.