Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I really appreciate the opportunity today to ask a few questions of Professor Leuprecht, whose book Spheres of Governance, which he co-edited with Professor Lazar, really influenced my thinking around multi-level governance. I was really looking forward to this exchange.
In a 2016 Toronto Star article, Professor, you talked about the Danish fighter jet procurement process. You stated then that “which jet Canada buys and how many is secondary to having a proper process”. Today we heard the testimony from Mr. Williams, who called the sole-source procurement process that took place under the previous government “an abomination”. We heard Mr. Perry talk about the lack of trust that defined that particular procurement process of the previous government.
Can you tell us why, in your opinion, a transparent and independent procurement process for these fighter jets is important?