Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Professor Leuprecht, further to your observation earlier in your opening statements about the Alabama National Guard, some years ago, I had the opportunity to be at Randolph Air Force Base outside of San Antonio. It's a sprawling Air Force base with acres and acres of nothing but parked military aircraft. It's just spectacular. Some of the Air Force personnel I was with at that time observed that this one parking lot area where we were waiting for a crew bus to come get us....
We had arrived on an H-class C-130 Herc from the Canadian air force, and we were feeling a bit small, if you will, and then in rolled a C-5 Galaxy. It was piloted by the Connecticut Air National Guard. We got on the crew bus and were speaking to the personnel who had “signed it out for the weekend” to fly it down to Texas and enjoy a weekend in San Antonio. They mentioned that they can do that on a weekend. Our air force personnel were looking at them all and then looking at this sprawling.... I said to the chap from the Connecticut Air National Guard, “We in Canada don't have an air force that's this big.” He said, “Right here, we're looking at your national health care system pretty much parked on this runway.” However you look at that, I would think you can take that....
My question for you is, how can the DIS ensure that regions like mine in the Bay of Quinte with strong manufacturing and skilled trades can participate in defence supply chains and benefit from these investments? How can the DIS, in your view, better integrate mid-size regional manufacturers into the defence supply chains rather than concentrating opportunities among large prime contractors?