I was a bit scared, Mr. Dupont, because the way you were talking,
I thought you were going to say “God bless America” at the end.
Gentlemen, it's about time that I hear people from the industry who truly are now fighting even for their existence.
We have a government that has totally abdicated our Canadian sovereignty. The reason why there's R and D, the reason why you have an industry, is that you had a government that put forward some industrial policies and made sure every region could have a share.
Now if you want to have R and D, you need ISS. This is the first time, with equipment, that we have a government that has bought C-17s that we truly believe we don't need, but for which we won't have any ISS.
Second and third line maintenance is necessary for research and development. Without this maintenance, R and D will be pointless. Boeing talks about identifying $577 million out of $3.4 billion; so there will be some compensation. The fact remains, however, that a small $1.3 billion cheque was given to Boeing, which will look after ongoing maintenance.
Gentlemen, I hope that your respective organizations will take a stand. I know that there are perhaps some concerns, as the Department of National Defence awards the contracts and determines the selection criteria. But if we do not do what is necessary now, we will americanize the aerospace and aeronautical industry and end up being a franchise.
Mr. Page, I know that 50% comes from the United States. I also know the ITARs exist. One of your members, Bell Helicopter, had to lay off a Venezuelan engineer because he had dual citizenship.
I hope that we will be able to work together so that this government can do its job.
To be on the record, we have a Minister of Public Works and a Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs who have said the Boeing C-17 is ITAR-friendly, which is total baloney. Dan Ross came here and said he's trying to negotiate a deal not only à la carte for his own defence department, but afterwards, for the industry.
I think we should get our act together and make sure we have a one-two punch, because at the end of the day,
Mr. Dupont, we could probably say that we are the employee of the month of the United States' industries. In my opinion, an industry truly has sovereignty when it is able to help our men and women in upgrading and producing their equipment.
Monsieur Page, I would like to know how you deal with ITAR. I think it's a good first step that we're talking about it today. The Liberal Party of Canada, since the beginning, was pushing to make sure that we had something not only after a contract, but when we negotiate a contract.
I also believe one of the main problems happening right now is that we have a government that is totally abdicating and believes that since it's only four airplanes and we don't have the infrastructure, we should let Boeing take care of it. How can we manage, together, to have a true strategy in which you can be part of that process and make sure that this government, which has abdicated our Canadian Charter of Rights and our sovereignty, is efficient in protecting our men and women?