More engagement with industry, above and beyond, would be helpful for industry to respond appropriately to the request for proposals or the request for information. That goes back to what we've been calling for quite a while now, which is that long-term national strategy with respect to aerospace, specifically with respect to procurement. Part of the issue is that if the industry doesn't know where the government is going....
As I said before in my opening remarks, we have “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, which outlines some of the pieces there, but that overarching strategy looks at all the different components. In research and innovation, what are the new industrial capabilities and commercial mechanisms that we're trying to drive? How do we leverage the defence procurement with respect to innovation here in Canada?
There are a lot of opportunities to come together through some of those models to have more collaboration with industry, so that industry knows exactly what's coming up. Knowing what some of the priorities are and where that strategy is going would be very helpful.
Right now, if we look at what's happening, we had some great announcements earlier this week. I know CANSEC was on, which is a great show. At the high level, the situation we're now in is that money goes to the department, the department doesn't spend all of that money and it lapses. Our armed forces don't have the capacity to meet some of their demands. Industry can't respond and deliver on that. It's just a vicious cycle.
More collaboration and coordination with industry and working together with us on a high-level strategy would be very helpful. It would solve a lot of the problems you are uncovering as a committee.