One of the big areas we can talk a bit about is the buy Canada provisions, because there's been a bit of a pendulum shift. In defence specifically, we made it difficult for Canadian suppliers to win Canadian contracts. We would, in some ways, fund a capability through its low levels of technological readiness and through the system and then force it to compete against a foreign option. It would lose, and then all the investment is gone. My worry is that we may go too far in the other direction. That can be discussed.
What I would say is that the reason you say, “Let's talk about Montreal and the aviation hub there” is that you've seen sustained investment. One of my concerns is that, right now, we're in a moment when defence seems very important because of some of the issues we've had south of the border. Obviously, the Canadian military needs much more capability and all that, but I worry that in two or three years' time, we aren't going to see that sustained investment.
I know that the Prime Minister has talked about how we're going to hit 3.5% according to the NATO guidelines, and with that level of funding, you can sustain, build and create new capabilities, especially if we identify the right ones and do that. If we don't get to that point, we've created a policy that's designed for 3.5%, but we only hit 2.5%. That delta is so significant that you just don't get the outcomes you want. You have high cost capabilities. Much more funding is put into sustainment, because the production line is too small, and we close it.
When I think about the history of how the Canadian aviation industry, let's say, came about, especially in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, you had that sustained investment. You had real identification of what the needs were and how the Canadian industry could effectively go there. Also, we looked at what our partners needed. The Sabre fighter was exported broadly because it was a NATO standard that was understood. It requires a lot of this smart thinking, but also sustained interest and funding for it.