I can comment on that.
I want to go back to your question about mapping. I think it's also important to do a better job at mapping the skills that exist in Canada, particularly those in the aerospace sector. As I mentioned, there are very few countries that have the capacity Canada has. Over 220,000 people work in this sector in Canada, including 90,000 direct jobs. It's also a much more intensive sector on average in terms of research and development compared to other manufacturing sectors. On average, it's 2.6, so almost 3 times more intensive in terms of R and D.
It'll be important to go beyond mapping to very clearly identify the areas in which Canada really has a comparative advantage and the gaps that exist and that could be filled by investing more. I think those are the next steps in implementing Canada's defence industrial strategy, and it's very encouraging. We had to start somewhere, and it's good that we have. Obviously, implementation is really the key for this strategy.
You suggest a strategy for the aerospace sector. Some of the panellists here represent member companies of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada. The association does advocate a more targeted strategy for the aerospace sector. We definitely have very strong comparative advantages in this area. It's a lever that can be used to build the nation and increase Canada's defence industrial capacity.
Historically, there's been a very strong link between military aviation and civil aviation in Canada. Unfortunately, that has been lost over time. Our peers in the industry all have a very strong defence division, and a flow of technologies between the two aviation fields. A lot of civilian technology comes from military programs, and more and more it's the other way around. That's what we do. We leverage our business aircraft as platforms for defence applications.
We have an opportunity to build closer ties and create and encourage those synergies between the civilian and military fields.