Mr. Speaker, the Emerson report on the future of the aerospace industry confirms what the NDP has been saying for a long time: the government is not providing adequate support to this sector, which is essential to the greater Montreal area, the third largest aerospace hub after Seattle and Toulouse. For example, the public sector share of funding for aerospace research and development is three times higher in the United States than in Canada.
This gap will only grow wider since the Conservatives are cutting $500 million from their industrial research and development support programs.
Under the Conservatives, we are becoming increasingly dependent on the extraction and export of raw natural resources.
I sincerely hope that the Emerson report will shake the Conservatives out of their stupor. They need to realize that the aerospace industry—a $22 billion industry—helps make our entire economy soar.