00:00So, we were there since the beginning of this unjustified and illegal trade war against us,
00:07but we will continue to be there even after the Trump administration.
00:11I'm here today to show that we were there during the first phase of the trade war,
00:16as many companies in the sectors of aluminum, steel, auto, forestry were affected.
00:23But now, we will be there for the second chapter of the trade war at a time where there are
00:30so many different businesses
00:31in so many different sectors, maybe from plastic to cement to food and beverages to clothing, fashion, textiles, etc.
00:44So, my message is if you are a business owner and you're working in a sector that is impacted by
00:53the tariffs,
00:54don't do sudden moves. Don't take sudden decisions. Come and see us. We can help you.
01:01We are there with loans, interest-free loans, but we're also with non-repayable contributions,
01:08so basically grants to help you out. You can, through the DEC, Développement Économique Canada pour les Régions du Québec,
01:16or if you're also in the country, through your local regional development agency, we can help you,
01:22and we can also support you through the BDC with interest-free loans, and also through AI, sorry, EI,
01:32insurance, employment insurance, which is so important for you to be able to keep your employees
01:37and your operations running. So, we were there since the beginning of this unjustified and illegal trade war
01:46against us, but we will continue to be there even after the Trump administration, and meanwhile,
01:52we're building Canada strong because we've just announced great news. The Prime Minister was in Thunder Bay,
01:57my colleague was also in La Boqueteire, and we've just announced a very important contract for Alstom,
02:04which will be building the VRL wagons across the country, and that funding will help small businesses,
02:15including the one where we are right now, Sorémag, to be able to continue to have clients
02:21and be able also to keep its employees and maintain its operations.
02:27Meanwhile, we'll concentrate on ourselves, on what we can control, and what we can control is definitely
02:33building a very strong country with a very strong economy. And concretely speaking, what does that mean
02:40is that we anchor now, but also for the next decades and the next generation, our industries.
02:47And that is my job in the Cabinet, to make sure that I fight for our industries and our industrial
02:53capacities,
02:54but my point is clear. We have Michel here, who's been working for 32 years in this very company,
03:01in the industrial sector. I want to make sure, and the Prime Minister in the Cabinet wants to make sure,
03:08that ultimately, he can continue to work within Sorémag, but he can do so,
03:13and the future generations will be able to continue to work within our industries.
03:21No way will, we will never accept that our industrial capacity be weakened by our vulnerability towards the U.S.,
03:33and not only that, our industries, our companies are here to stay. We will never accept that they will just
03:39go
03:39and leave towards the U.S. We will anchor them now, and for the future decades.
03:45Between the first chapter of the trade war and now, is that during the first chapter of the trade war,
03:50a lot of the industries that were targeted were industries either that had been impacted in the past
03:57by tariffs, including under the first Trump administration, and I'm thinking of steel, aluminum,
04:03and forestry, and forestry, and of course, auto, but at the same time, we knew how to get to them,
04:11and to support them, and I'm not saying that this first chapter of the trade war was not difficult.
04:20It is difficult. It was difficult, and will continue to be there for these businesses.
04:24The difference with the second chapter of the trade war now, is that while we're dealing with all the
04:29businesses that have been impacted, steel, aluminum, auto, forestry, we're also dealing with many small
04:37companies which are now affected by new tariffs that don't necessarily know well the different
04:44programs of the federal government, and we think that there's around 25,000 of them that are directly
04:51impacted, and the goal of this press conference is to get the message out for people to know that
04:58we're there for them, and I know that there's a lot of anxiety across the country. I understand
05:02that a lot of business owners, a lot of employees, are wondering whether, you know, can I keep my
05:09business, can I keep my job, can my wife keep her job, my husband keep his job, and so I
05:17want to make
05:18sure that people know that we're there, and that we're there, and we will get through this, because
05:23businesses need to keep their employees and keep on also with their operations, and that's how we will
05:30be able to get through this all together.
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