Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for appearing before us.
I find it quite ironic that a multi-billion-dollar defence and military procurement contract—and it's Boeing I'm referring to—meant to safeguard Canadians and Canadian sovereignty would in fact be the construct that undermines fundamental pillars of Canadian society. U.S. ITAR legislation undermines our Charter of Rights, forcing Canadian companies to discriminate against Canadians born in certain countries.
In Canada we do not discriminate amongst Canadians based on their place of birth. In fact, a colleague of ours, a member of Parliament, Omar Alghabra, who has been entrusted by Canadians to pass legislation in our House of Commons, would not be allowed to work on this contract.
Secondly, this contract fundamentally undermines Canada's sovereignty. Although Americans are our friends, only Canadian laws should apply on Canadian soil. We need to stand up for legislative sovereignty.
Yesterday in the Senate, Minister, you stated, “The good news is that such cases are rare. That is very good news...”. Just recently here in committee, you said you were proud of this particular contract. Minister, how can you categorize as good news any breaching of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms or of legislative sovereignty on Canada's soil?