Hello, everybody. Yes, we've been advocating for the need for a national advanced manufacturing strategy in this country for a long time. Frankly, it's now needed more than ever in the wake of the pandemic.
Mr. Agnew also referenced the fact that government procurement can be an important measure that governments can take to spur new manufacturing in this country. I want to highlight one issue, though, that is relevant to this committee's inquiry. One of the issues that we had with CETA when it was signed was that it places limits, or could place limits, in our view, on the power of the domestic government to fully exercise the power of procurement to create jobs by excluding bidders from outside of Canada.
We think that, when you're renegotiating or negotiating a new agreement with the United Kingdom, the government should pay particular attention to preserving its ability to create jobs in Canada through the power of procurement.