Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague from Essex for his comments and his concern for the industry. However, my response to him is that we actually do have a choice right now. Do we want to manufacture cars with parts that make dozens of trips back and forth to the United States? It ultimately costs a a lot, with the taxes, surcharges and so on.
Would it not be better to develop a product with a secure and sustainable supply? That would have allowed the industry to use batteries produced in Quebec and Canada, which are traceable and known to meet the highest environmental and labour standards. That would have had a lasting economic impact. We missed that opportunity because the Conservatives diverted the funding sources. The government stopped investing.
Do I think the 2035 target will be met? Probably not, given that the government stopped investing in innovation. The Conservatives are complicit in that.