I am asking you the question because your lengthy response shows that negotiations had taken place earlier, before everything was finally settled. Last June 22, I asked you a question about the procurement of aircraft for the Department of National Defence. At that time, the Prime Minister had said that no choice had yet been made, that things were progressing normally, etc.
However, on that very day, June 22, the file was being given final approval by Treasury Board, which is a Cabinet committee. The Prime Minister had decided to circumvent the truth in order to avoid having to answer to parliamentarians, preferring to embark on a one-week coast-to-coast marketing tour, and in so doing, demonstrating his lack of respect for parliamentarians' questions on procurement totalling $17 billion, which represent almost 10% of Canada's annual budget; that is not insignificant.
These choices were already so firm that you were dispatched to Washington one week earlier by the Prime Minister's Office to enter into secret talks with Boeing and Lockheed Martin. We see that it works. You claim to not be involved in political interference, but CAE will be given a contract for training. You mentioned the Chinooks and the Hercules, for example, but no mention is made of—