Senator Carignan: Leader, seven years later, with a so-called transparent process, we end up with the same procurement, but seven years behind and with a substantial increase in cost and a utilization deficit to the point where we are forced to buy used F-18s from Australia, which were no longer good enough for the Australians. We had to repair and fix those to be able to use them.

In light of the response you have given us, can you tell us why the government is continuing to negotiate with Lockheed Martin and not just putting in an order to try to salvage the situation and minimize the damage that has been done by your government?