Thank you, Mr Chair.
Thank you, witnesses.
My first question is for the commissioner of the Coast Guard.
The polar class 1 icebreakers announced in 2007 at a cost of $700 million, the first vote, still do not have, all these years later, a design approved. The Parliamentary Budget Officer put out a report in 2021 and updated it this year.
When you were here last time, before we had the update, you agreed that the cost estimates were right there, but you said that we would be on time and on budget. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has updated that and actually says at the current estimate now, it's actually $1.2 billion more than it was just a year ago, and that it will be $260 million in additional costs for every year before steel is cut.
Do you agree with that assessment and that what was said to the committee a year or so ago was incorrect in that it won't be on time and on budget since it's already yet again not on time and not on budget?