Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand up for sectors of the Chatham-Kent—Leamington economy that are vital to all of Canada: the steel, aluminum and mould-making industries. These sectors support over 100,000 Canadian jobs and form the backbone of the infrastructure we rely on every day, such as bridges, hospitals, vehicle parts and transit systems, yet today they are under immediate threat. After a year of trade turbulence, business uncertainty is critically high as unfairly traded imports undercut Canadian producers. U.S. tariffs, in some cases reaching as high as 4,000%, are devastating our mould-makers, forcing companies to hold shipments and putting thousands of jobs at immediate risk.
While the Liberals did focus on upstream steel and aluminum production, they took far too long to acknowledge the downstream industries such as the fabricators, processors and manufacturers who actually turn those materials into the products Canadians depend upon. If they truly believe in building Canada, why are they failing to stand up for the very industries and workers who literally make that possible?