Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to welcome Mr. Rowe and Mr. Conrad to our committee.
Mr. Rowe is probably the father of the aerospace industry in maritime Canada. I didn't realize you had so many employees outside the maritime region. I congratulate you for the work you've done in the past and are doing now for the industry and for our region.
I find it hard to believe that the government or the bureaucrats didn't know what they were doing when they made a change in the policy that you are talking about here. I think our problem is that we don't treat the U.S. as a foreign country. They treat us as a foreign country, but we don't treat them as a foreign country. We have some other kind of understanding, and I'm not sure what it is, but they think we're brothers in arms or something. I'm not sure what it is.
I know a young lady who was speeding through Georgia recently and found out she was from a foreign country. She was in prison for a number of days because she had a speeding ticket. That's the way they treat anybody from outside of the United States. I think we should realize quickly that the U.S. is a foreign country. Even though they are close neighbours and friends, they still treat us as foreigners, and we should take our cue from them rather than from the Boy Scouts of America.
You also mentioned that the government has changed their policy for one of the provinces previous to the election in the province of Quebec. Senator Fortier was able to get an exception. Does this mean that their policy is now changing? Have you got any response from them that they have changed the policy for one part of the country, and that the policy now will be reverted to what it was before so that everybody will have a crack at the contracts?