Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank all the witnesses for coming here.
Thank you, Christyn, for the excellent presentation you made. As you know, the defence and security industry is something I personally am interested in because of the potential for economic development. When Tom Jenkins submitted his Canada First defence procurement policy a few years back, if I remember correctly, he mentioned that the Canadian defence budget in the next 15 to 20 years would be bigger than the oil sands capital investment budget. That was when oil was still ruling, at $100-plus per barrel. Obviously, today the capital plans of the oil sands industry have changed, but the Canadian defence procurement budget is still there.
There are several things here. When I ran for my nomination, I made the promotion of defence and security industries in Ottawa one of my planks, because of the huge potential. As you mentioned, this sector pays 60% more in salary than comparable jobs, and these jobs will never get outsourced to China or India. Unlike the wireless and telecom booms and busts that we have seen in this city, the defence sector jobs do stay here. Especially in C4ISR—command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance—the industry has huge potential.
With regard to the U.S. defence budget, the R and D budget alone in this segment of the sector is $90 billion. Many Canadian companies don't know that Canadian companies are considered to be U.S. domestic companies for defence acquisition.
So thank you again for coming here. I just want to touch base with you on several particular points. We have discussed the industrial and technological benefits program. Can you in a few seconds throw light on how we can use ITB policy to promote innovation and a subsequent manufacturing sector here?