Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here.
Mr. Chaulk, I want to pick up on something you were just speaking about. I'm curious. In the context of capital structures in this country, one of the big challenges or big questions when you have companies like yours that are in the earliest stages is how we make sure the capital structures in this country are able to support the assurance that companies doing leading-edge work, particularly in defence, remain sovereign. One of the observations we would make is that, particularly in early-stage companies, access to capital in a space like yours—and I would imagine in space as well—is severely constrained vis-à-vis the U.S.
What should we be looking at in this country to incentivize the private sector—Canadian capital in particular—to start making the types of investments it seems more comfortable making in similar ventures in other countries and more reluctant to make in similar Canadian companies? What is the mindset challenge we need to overcome when it comes to capital coming into these companies to do the type of innovative work that builds the defence sector in the way we need to do it?
Perhaps I'll start with you, Mr. Chaulk.