Thank you, MP Bains, and thank you indeed for hosting me when I was pleased to visit your riding. We were able to meet with the dedicated, hard-working workers at Seaspan. They were so pleased to tell us about what you just mentioned, the soon-to-be released OOSV, the offshore oceanographic science vessel, which is the largest and most modern science vessel ever constructed in Canada by the proud and hard-working workers of Seaspan. Many of their families live in your riding and we saw, and you saw, how grateful they are to the whole of the caucus around the Lower Mainland.
This is also pointing to the fact that the national shipbuilding strategy every year is supporting the jobs of about 20,000 workers in many places in Canada, including the smaller shipyards, which are not part of the three larger ones, to which we will be sending more work in the years to come. That also involves about $2.1 billion in additional GDP contributions because of their work. You heard, like me, the fact that they want to collaborate with the other two big shipyards, Irving and Davie, so we look forward to decades of work for the people in your riding and in many other places in Canada.