I'm getting to that. Please let me finish.
The process is independently conducted by VIA Rail. Although we do ensure a certain degree of transparency, the VIA Rail people are the ones who make the decision. They are the experts, after all.
I know your party isn't in favour of free trade agreements, but we have an obligation to open up federal procurement contracts to all bidders. It doesn't work the same at the provincial level. For projects like these, we can't include contractual clauses favouring Canadian companies. If we did, we wouldn't be living up to our commitments. For your information, it's a two-way street. Our trading partners are under the same obligation. As a country that believes in free trade and seeks to do business with the rest of the world, we have to respect our commitments. In situations like this, we can't impose a Canadian content requirement.