This is the $64-billion question. Unfortunately, I don't have a simple answer for it, partly because neither I nor anybody on this committee or anybody else seems to have a real handle on what is happening. The project's process was supposed to be fair, open and transparent. It's not. It is completely opaque.
When I was involved in redoing the cost assessment for the polar icebreaker a few years back, my team asked for productivity data from the NSS yards, which had already been working for some time on it. We were refused it. How can you develop a cost estimate if you don't know what the productivity metrics are? I know more about productivity metrics in U.S. shipyards, U.K. shipyards and South African shipyards than I do about Canadian shipyards.
I don't know what the contracts are. The contracts have not been publicized. The contract values have not been publicized. We cannot find this information, and until we move to a more transparent system, unfortunately, it's difficult to see what the solutions are likely to be.
I very much agree with some of the suggestions made by Mr. Schmidt, whom I've known for many years, about measures that could be taken on the government side. The measures could be taken on the industry side as well. I think we need to move towards, as he said, much more fixed-price, fixed-schedule contracting and accountability for things that fail to meet those targets.
That's my quick answer for now.