Yes, sir.
Marine Atlantic is a very interesting case. The Shipbuilding Association has advocated for the national shipbuilding procurement strategy for quite some time. It looks as if we are almost there. When we made that advocacy initially, when we looked at Canadian government vessels, we included ferries like Marine Atlantic's. We felt that—along with BC Ferries, I might add—although it claims it is a company that needs to make a profit, it is subsidized heavily by government. We looked at it in a broad-brush way as being essentially government-type vessels. Whether they be federal or provincial, we thought they could all fall in there. For whatever reason, of which I'm not aware, it didn't happen that way. They then went offshore.
I don't know what drove the board to do that. We, of course, were not in favour of it. We felt we should be given an opportunity to build. We had built the ones they were replacing. Very similar to the BC Ferries issue, they went offshore. To me, it's a case of quick gain for long-term pain. What happens with these ships is that now you're going to be beholden to those countries that built those ships for the in-service support. All the good people in Canada who make parts, radars, gyros, and everything are going to be excluded. That was one of the reasons we were against it.
I personally, and I think most of our membership, did not agree with that decision, but it was made outside of our.... We said our piece.