Minister Blair, I was just asking when we were going to actually get around to replacing this fleet and why you paused it in 2018 and plan to have the Snowbirds fly until 2030.
While we're talking about jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force, let's talk about the CF-18 replacement program, which has been delayed by the Liberals on numerous occasions. The most recent delays happened in February of this year and again earlier in this month of May, pushing the deadline now until July 31.
My questions to the government are about this last delay. Was it related to the COVID-19 circumstances? Was it requested by the competitors, or was it requested by the government because of the lack of departmental staff to actually process the bids?