Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
It's always nice to be present in committee for another chapter in the bromance between Mr. Poilievre and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
I would like to differ briefly at the beginning. The shipyards at CFB Esquimalt are the biggest employers in my riding. I think the taxpayers in my riding would completely differ.
What we're looking for here is not necessarily subsidies or government spending, but ways to grow the aerospace industry that will create those goods jobs. I'm afraid that Mr. Poilievre and the representative from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation won't be happy until we're all hewers of wood, drawers of water and workers in Amazon warehouses. It's not that I disrespect any of those jobs, but Canadians are looking for skilled work and the aerospace industry is a good source of that.
I'm going to go back to Mr. Donald and perhaps Ms. Medve to talk about the overall contributions of aerospace to the Canadian economy, because I think we've lost sight of that today.