Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I too would like to welcome Ms. Fraser and her team.
Ms. Fraser, I have in front of me the overall budget for the Department of National Defence, which is about $19 billion. I have looked at the way in which it is broken down. On page 7 of the French version, operational and maintenance costs take up $6.4 billion, or 34% of the pie. Personnel costs are $8.2 billion, or 40% of the pie. Capital costs are $21 billion. My discussion with you is about that last point.
I asked the translators and they told me that comptabilité d'exercise is translated as “accrual accounting“. Several people tell me that there is a problem in the department, at deputy minister level. Currently, of the $4 billion that has to be spent on procurements, much too much money is being spent on the air force. The first contracts that have been announced—the C-17s, the C-30s, the Chinooks...It looks like the accrual accounting curve on the $4 billion is so high that there is nothing left for the navy and precious little for the army. That is what makes people say that the department's planning is bad.
Do you agree with me? Should the minister be saying that things are moving too fast with the air force and that they have to save some room for the navy and the army? Are my figures and my thoughts correct?