Senator Gignac: Are you willing to draw inspiration from the United States and go so far as to exclude companies doing business in hostile countries from public tenders, since this is the case in the United States, with transport equipment, for example? We know that the Chinese are well versed in facial recognition, for example. Whether we are talking about China or other countries that are hostile to us, would you be prepared to exclude certain countries, as the United States does in its public tenders?

Hon. Clément Gignac: Thank you for being with us, minister. The world is changing, with a great deal of geopolitical tension. You are responsible for procurement for the Government of Canada. How are you integrating the national security aspect to ensure that our country is not dependent on supply chains, and above all to make our telecommunications and military infrastructures less vulnerable to countries that could be hostile to us, should tensions escalate?