Thank you very much, general, colonel, gentlemen. It is an honour and a privilege to have you here.
We know that we are dealing with several billion dollars here and that this money needs to be well spent. We also recognize the importance of the equipment for the Air Force.
Because this is a two-hour meeting, we will have many questions. My first question is for you General Lucas, and then, given that you have brought along an expert in the field, Colonel Burt, I would also have some pointed questions to put to him.
First off, you must know that Liberals do not approve the purchase of the C-17s. We think that we could have rented them and made better use of public funds, furthermore, we get the impression that we've given the Americans a blank cheque because we don't have the copyright nor will we be doing the maintenance on these aircraft.
Today, general, I'd like to discuss C-130J with you. Through the agreements and synergy brought about through the CF-18 modernization project, the costs and risks were shared among the countries, which was to the advantage of Canadians. We did it with Australia, the U.S., and the U.K.
If there is this brotherhood of nations, fairness and some fair-play, why did Australia purchase the Hercules C-130Js for U.S.$54.5 million and the U.K. for $64 million? These amounts included initial technical support. You can't say the Canadian aircraft cost more, because the additional costs were already included. The Americans paid $64.5 million. Yet, it cost Canada $188 million per aircraft, or twice the price paid by our allies.
The $3.2 billion contract is for the purchase of 17 aircraft; that's quite a lot per aircraft. Out of these $3.2 billion, over $1.7 billion will go to maintenance over a 20-year period, for a total of $4.9 billion. That's a lot of money.
What could possibly explain why we would be so inclined to buy aircraft which cost $188 million in Canada when they cost half that amount in other countries?