Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and through you to the minister and witnesses, thank you for appearing today.
Minister, while we're on the subject of procurement, I wonder if we could talk a little bit about our arctic/offshore patrol ships project. There were about three different questions I was going to ask, but I'll try to encapsulate them into one.
We're purchasing these made-in-Canada ships for specific reasons, for jobs and economic prosperity. I wonder if you could talk about our strategy surrounding the sovereignty and security of Canada and once again the economic importance of made-in-Canada patrol ships vis-à-vis our arctic sovereignty.