International Trade committee  At least.

International Trade committee  That's a difficult question to answer. It depends how many contracts the shipyards collectively want to sign, but it's a big help.

International Trade committee  Yes, that's totally correct. And we feel that's totally unfair to Canadian owners.

International Trade committee  Yes. Obviously, if a Canadian owner was getting access to the structured financing and the accelerated capital cost allowance, it would make a huge difference, and I think you would see an upsurge in Canadian owners wanting to build here.

International Trade committee  Correct.

International Trade committee  I think without that government procurement we won't have an industry here in a few years. I think it would completely disappear.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. That is truly what the shipbuilding association has been pushing. Just as you say, combine SFF and ACCA, maintain the build in Canada program, and get it going. The navy needs these ships; the Canadian Coast Guard needs these ships. The Arctic is very important to C

International Trade committee  Yes. If you started all these programs right now, you would create thousands of jobs across the country. It's not only the shipyards. We buy equipment and materials in almost every province. Unfortunately, we don't buy much in Manitoba. But look at Ontario, for example. If we b

International Trade committee  With all due respect to the minister, I think we've been making presentations on that for at least three or four years.

International Trade committee  Finance. We've made presentations to the Department of Finance, and it's always been the Department of Finance that has said no. Really, the accelerated capital cost allowance is not costing the government any dollars. It's the time value of money, and that's not a big factor in

International Trade committee  It would be open bidding. If you look at the cost of a ship, it doesn't matter what type of ship you build, approximately 60% of the cost to the shipyard is purchased items. We buy engines, generators, pipe, valves, fittings, and cable. That would all be up for competition. So t

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Cardin. I'm sorry for the delay, but I don't speak French. In fact, I've often been told that I don't speak English, either.

International Trade committee  I'm curious about part of your question. You mentioned $4.3 billion. Are you referring to the cost of the contracts?

International Trade committee  Okay. Basically that's the cost of the programs. There actually are two problems. There's EFTA and what we can achieve under EFTA. Then there's what I call following on with the completion of the rationalization program. It just happens that timing is causing the two to come tog

International Trade committee  If it's not a sellout, it's getting close to it. It certainly doesn't enhance the survivability of the industry. It jeopardizes it. It would be pretty hard to say it's an absolute sellout, although it's getting close. It's not only EFTA that concerns us. The ground rules may be s