Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for your presentations today. I want to pick up on what Mr. Coderre was saying about the reporting mechanisms in the U.S. around the C-130J. Certainly the information that Mr. Coyle talked about, this public documentation actually from the Department of Defense in the U.S., has identified problems with the C-130J from their perspective. The General Accounting Office has also identified difficulties with the aircraft. So if I have time I'll come back to that, but I think it's important to have that on the record. I don't think that you in any way have addressed those specific concerns that have been documented.
I'm from British Columbia, and there's the whole issue of search and rescue aircraft there. The Canadian air force is dealing with using very old technology right now in search and rescue across Canada but specifically in my province. I believe it's 40-year-old technology with the Buffalo. I live in an area where there's the Pacific Ocean, there are lakes, there are mountains. There is a real need for search and rescue. We have a fishing industry, we have a logging industry, we have recreation in the province. We attract tourists from all over the world to take advantage of the beautiful part of the country that I was born in, and I'm very concerned about the status of the search and rescue replacement program in Canada. I'm very concerned about it, as are a number of British Columbians.
So I wondered if you could talk today a little bit about why you think the process seems to have been stalled in Canada for new search and rescue aircraft. What has your experience been within Canada with the process for procurement here on search and rescue, and how does that match up with your experiences with other countries around the world?
I also wondered whether you had some comments about the state of the equipment we're using right now in Canada in search and rescue.