Mr. Chairman, I completely disagree with the premise upon which that question is based. If we accept what the committee is asking for, that you're genuinely interested in the cost of our crime bills, to say that the public servants who head up each of those departments are wasting their time appearing before a parliamentary committee...I want you to know, I completely disagree with that.
If it's only about procedures that you're talking about, I guess the Liberals could make that point. But if you're sincerely interested in what it costs the federal government in terms of its crime prevention and the crime bills, then I think it is entirely appropriate that public servants, who have an in-depth knowledge of each of these areas, get the time to respond.
This is the second time that I've been asked about the F-35s. Again, I'm not the defence minister, but anything that equips our men and women in uniform and gives them the very best equipment in the world has my complete support. I completely agree with my colleague, the Minister of National Defence. So inasmuch as this is the second time that this has been raised with me, I want you to know, Mr. Chair, that I completely support having first-class equipment for the men and women in uniform in our Canadian armed forces. I want to make that clear, since it's been raised twice with me.