Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Welcome back, everybody, after what I call the “winter break”.
Welcome to the two new members of the committee. It's good to see both of you here.
Thank you, witnesses, for your presentation, although I have to say, as someone who represents the west coast, that I think what you've presented is somewhat problematic for me. I guess I would say that there are some who, at best, would describe your presentation as an attempt to reopen the bidding in the last shipbuilding strategy. At worst, some would call it sour grapes.
My real question here, I guess, is that you seem to have implied that somehow those who won the contracts aren't doing their jobs. I wonder whether that's more a function of the administration of the shipbuilding strategy and the changes that have been made in the shipbuilding strategy, such as, for instance, changing the design for the supply ship from a ground-up to an off-the-shelf design. I mean, these are decisions that have been made not by the people who bid on the contracts, but by the Canadian government.
The implication on the west coast is that Seaspan is not doing anything. They're certainly already constructing ships for Fisheries and Oceans, and they'll be laying steel for the supply ship sometime later this year, but they had to wait for the design. You can't lay steel for ships until you have a design.
I guess that's my first question. You somehow seem to be arguing that it's the fault of the shipyard that we don't have any ships in the water yet, when I would say that perhaps that's due to changes the Canadian government made, particularly the last government, in constantly changing the playing field.