The minister is responsible for defence capability, ensuring the forces have the right equipment at the right time, and he discusses these projects and these programs with the Chief of the Defence Staff and the deputy minister. It is not an arbitrary process, where that's that and there's no discussion. Whether the minister was Liberal, or Conservative in our case, he has to have a comfort level with those performance requirements and the time and parameters discussed.
On February 8th, 2007. See this statement in context.