Canada is doing absolutely everything it can to develop the aerospace industry. However, if you compare us to other countries... I will leave my own area of expertise for the moment, and talk about the aerospace industry as whole.
The 747 was developed as a result of a contract the Pentagon awarded to two companies. The Pentagon had not chosen Boeing, but rather the other company. Then Boeing added some windows and some seats and came up with the 747. After that, it got a check for $2 billion. Bombardier would really like to have the same type of non-refundable contract.
Our country does have some resources and it has a population of 30 million people. Under the agreements we entered into with the government, we received some repayable loans under programs such as TPC or SADI. It is essential to us that these programs be maintained, because we have to be as good as other companies, if we want to be competitive. Our competitor, Thales, is largely owned by the French government. Our other competitor is CFSI, which is owned by Warren Buffett. I hardly need to tell you that these two groups have much deeper pockets than CAI. So we still need these programs.
The best thing that the Canadian government could do to help out companies would be to make the investment tax credits completely refundable. That would be the best thing it could do. As far as the rest goes, we are good cooperate citizens, and we faithfully pay back the money we received under programs such as the TPC. And after we finish the Phoenix project, we will do the same again. But refundable investment tax credits would be a huge advantage to all Canadian companies that do R & D.