Thank you for your question.
Yes, I can tell you that we've been suffering from that for about four years. Before that, the federal government clearly recognized the aerospace industry. Aircraft have been flying for 60 to 100 years. We celebrated the industry's 100th anniversary in 2009. So it's well established here. However, I'd say we feel abandoned. Roughly four years ago, the federal government cut the programs intended for aerospace and decided to create an innovation program embracing all sectors.
We no longer enjoy the dynamic we used to have. Sectoral experts thoroughly understood our sector and could influence the terms and conditions of those programs to make our industry competitive around the world. We haven't enjoyed that support for four years now. The federal government has opted for a supercluster-based strategy.
Superclusters work well for artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. Our industry in fact uses those technologies. We have to integrate those disruptive technologies, those new ways of doing things. However, if the sector falls behind and is no longer as strong as it was, it'll be hard to integrate all those technologies and to apply them within the industry.
My message is this: we clearly have to support superclusters, the crosscutting technologies, but we also have to keep very strong industrial sectors, which can use those technologies and make Canada more competitive around the world.