Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing today.
Mr. Fortier, as a historian, could you review some of the history of the aerospace and aircraft industry in Canada?
I just want to preface my comments by saying that I represent the riding of York Centre, where Bombardier is located, the largest private sector employer in the GTA, and they were just awarded yesterday, as you probably know, a contract from WestJet to produce 20 Q400s with an option for an additional 25. We're all very happy about that and York Centre is bringing lots of jobs and investment to my community.
Mr. Fortier, I just want to ask you how has the history of the development of the aerospace and aircraft industry in Canada been skewed, if you will, by involvement from government, notwithstanding wartime production but during peacetime production?
Let me give you an example. In 1986 when the CF-18 maintenance contract was awarded to Montreal instead of Winnipeg, it caused a whole big political scandal. Then in the early 1990s when Boeing owned de Havilland and wanted to sell it, there was a consortium from Europe that was interested, and the Ontario NDP government of the time wanted to be a partner and own an aircraft industry. Could you talk a bit about that, and in light of those examples, about how government involvement can really skew the private sector development of Canada's airplane or aerospace industry?