No, they didn't.
But to experience the problems faced by front-line troops...they often feel ignored, as your son will have recognized. We're not talking about big strategic procurement and we're not talking about the F-35; we're talking about their food rations, their boots, their neck strain in helicopters, and equipment just to look after and protect our soldiers.
There are opportunities there, but the system seems to be fairly slow in processing, and of course we have the Canadian problem of wanting to make sure we are going along with the Americans and all the NATO allies all the time. It's sort of designed for failure.
I'll give you an example. A helicopter needs a cushion to sit on. It's very uncomfortable and you vibrate to death. It's taken a long while to develop the material for the cushion. It was presented at a meeting recently and one of the air crew opposite me said, “Oh, I'd like one of those”, and was told, “Oh, no you can't have that yet. It's got to go out to defence requisition.” I said, “I'll take it down to Spadina Avenue tonight and get it sewn up.” No, it was going to take several years to get the cushions.
There are many practical examples.