Thank you for the question.
Like you, I recognize the importance of the shipbuilding industry. We have not had a shipbuilding industry in this country for over 25 years, and we need to have one. We need to have a robust shipbuilding industry in our country. We need to respond to the needs of the navy and the Canadian Coast Guard. In having that robust shipbuilding industry, we need to involve companies throughout the country and in doing so create jobs. That's what this is about.
No decision has been made yet by the Department of National Defence with respect to the tugboats. We're very early in the planning stages for that. There was a competitive process that enabled the government of the day to come up with two centres of excellence, one in Halifax and one in Vancouver, which you already referred to. That doesn't preclude other shipyards from availing themselves of the opportunities, because there will be opportunities for smaller ships. While Halifax will be building combat ships, and Seaspan will be building non-combat ships, there will be other opportunities for companies throughout the country to avail themselves of and employ Canadians from coast to coast to coast.