I'll just say three quick things.
With respect, the culture of secrecy, if it exists, seems to me to be contagious as governments change. But that aside, in writings and research and in working with the Somalia inquiry, for instance, during that period, I'm very eager to have a vigilant Parliament in matters of national defence. I think members should inform themselves in these committees and so on, but you can't do it yourself. I have always said, as other people have said, that committees such as this need strong research support, and I would encourage Parliament—or the House of Commons, anyway—to vote themselves money for these kinds of committees.
Secondly, white paper or no white paper, I think it's essential and I think it would be very pleasant if this committee and others like it could come up with a non-partisan defence policy for Canada. I don't actually see much difference between the Liberal statements in earlier years and the Conservative statements now.
But those aside, is the argument that we can't go ahead with procurement of support ships for the navy until we have a white paper, that we can't buy basic things like airplanes, communication systems, and equipment for the north until we have a white paper? I don't know of any responsible statement by any party in Canada saying we don't need these overhead investments, as I call them, so that we can do other things.
Someone could write a white paper statement this afternoon and we would all come to the same conclusion: that there are certain basic military capabilities we need, no matter who is in power, what we're doing and where we're going, and I think that's where we need to work.