That's a very important question, Mr. Bezan. It's something that the defence industrial strategy is addressing. We are aligning financing—BDC, EDC export, as examples—and aligning deep research. We are aligning access to contracts. We'll be very clear in exposing, for the first time in Canada.... Remember, this is the first defence industrial strategy in the history of the country—the first.
What we're trying to do here is to make sure that we intersect what our Canadian Armed Forces need and how we can give rise to the more than 600 companies we have now in Canada in this space. We have a whole series of SME measures, which I think will help give rise to growth. As you know, so many of our companies are small. We're looking at the 40-employee company going to 100. We're looking at Colt Canada going from 200 to 400 employees. We're moving forward.
On the prime front, you're right, but let's be positive about the primes. Irving shipyards employs almost 3,000 people on the ground in Halifax, but 10,000 other Canadians around the country. It is the same with respect to the Vancouver shipyards. It's the same with respect to GDLS. It's the same for our large CAE—Bombardier and others—players. These become very important generators across the country.