Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to bring up a couple of points vis-à-vis this motion and the reasons that I support my colleague Mr. Housefather asking for more time for us to be able to get some facts and data.
Number one, I think we really need to understand the inventory, where we are, and the efficacy of the inventory. As my colleague Mr. Paul-Hus indicated, it would also be good to understand, given the new variant, whether this inventory is effective. Then if we are in a position to be able to replace these, we'll be doing that in a very knowledgeable way. That's number one.
Number two, when we go that exclusive that it will all be produced by Canadian manufacturers, I don't know what the impact on the World Trade Organization is going to be. Are we doing anything that goes against some of the free trade agreements we have signed? Are we going to be in a position where we may have some sort of litigation? Also, we say “Canadian companies”. A lot of Canadian companies bring parts from all over the world and then they manufacture here or they assemble here. So the fact that a company is a Canadian company or a company in Quebec that is Canadian does not necessarily mean that it manufactures from A to Z in Canada and has a 100% Canadian product.
I draw my colleagues' attention to our automotive industry and the fact that not all the parts are manufactured in Canada, and I also draw my colleagues' attention to the challenge that we have with the EV situation that we are facing down south with some of the incentives being proposed by our American colleagues.
Please consider these three things as input that we need to consider. I support the idea that we really need some time to be able to study this and to make sure we have all the facts. I would suggest that we conclude by looking at the facts that we need to be provided to us, and that we reach out to PSPC to get some information from them so we can have a lot more substantive conversation around this, because I think this is an important point for us to consider or a study for us to do.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.