Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to welcome everyone.
First off, I'd like to start by explaining to you why members of the Bloc Québécois called for this study. We had started work on Afghanistan, and after that, we wondered what other issue we could address. That is when we decided to study the procurement process.
I hope you share our opinion, in that Parliament, at this point, is not very involved in the decision-making process. I must admit that I've always been somewhat frustrated to see the astronomical amounts being spent. Indeed, an amount of approximately $20 billion has been announced.
In my opinion, parliamentarians need to take a critical look at this issue, because we're dealing with taxpayers' money. That is currently the philosophy which guides our committee and it has led us to undertake this study.
I also have a few questions to ask.
Last July 7, I was surprised to see that a number of contracts were already posted on the MERX's site. The C-17s, the Chinook and Hercules were there. However, when it came to the Hercules it was a letter of intent. I would imagine that is how the Department of Public Works and Government Services wants to proceed with the Hercules. What I was surprised by was the C-17s and the Chinooks, both platforms are produced by Boeing, and there were advanced contract notices out, for ACAN.
Finally, I even wrote an article published in Frontline; I hope you read it. I found this article quite interesting. I spent a lot of time writing it. I'd like to hear your comments once you've read it, if you have not already done so.
I believe we lose our bargaining leverage when we tell a company that it is the only company we want to deal with. Do you agree that it affects our bargaining power? From that point on, the company understands we will only do business with it. In that way, it can be stricter as to the time when it will manufacture the product, where it will be done and how it will be done. I think we're losing bargaining leverage.
I would like an answer to that first question.