National Defence Committee on Oct. 7th, 2010

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

“Given its enormous size, I fear that abstaining from the JSF program could devastate Canada's aerospace”—

[Alan Williams]

Correct, and that's what I said in my opening comments too. That's why we're a participant and continue to be. Being a participant does not demand buying them, though.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm going to get to that a little bit later too.

You have high praise for Michael Slack, and I certainly agree with you. Would you have similar praise for other members of the team, civilian and military, who have decades of experience in this kind of stuff?

[Alan Williams]

Absolutely. I have nothing but the highest regard for all of the bureaucrats in all the departments that participated.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Would you agree that Michael Slack and other members of the team, to whom we all give great credit, and rightfully so, have access to information you and I don't have access to at the moment?

[Alan Williams]

It could be.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Well, it could be?

[Alan Williams]

I could be. I don't know.

All I can tell you is this. The documents that govern our relationship in the program are the ones that we all have. Unless they have signed an amendment to it, or unless there's a new agreement I'm not aware of, then the 2000 MOU is the governing document that governs our relationship.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm talking about access to information beyond just the MOU, but access to information on the aircraft's capabilities and those sorts of things.

[Alan Williams]

It could very well be.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Well, of course they do.

Do you have a top-secret clearance at the moment?

[Alan Williams]

I'm not sure if I still do. I had.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Well, I think you've answered my question.

Do you trust the judgment of people like Michael Slack?

[Alan Williams]

Absolutely.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Good.

Why would Michael Slack and so many others—

[Alan Williams]

Change their minds?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

—be in such fundamental disagreement with you?

[Alan Williams]

Well, I'm not sure they are. Michael, when he signed this MOU, said he foresaw a competition. I was foreseeing a competition. Michael is a bureaucrat working in the government. What he can say and not say is restricted. I'm not restricted. If I were in his position, I would say exactly the same thing.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Well, that will come out later—not today, but another day.

You mentioned there are valid reasons to sole-source. What are they?

[Alan Williams]

I may have said two of them. If there's a national emergency, of course, when we send our troops quickly to Afghanistan or do something like that, we may not have time, so you do it. So unforeseen urgency, seen in article 506(11)(a) in the agreement on internal trade, is the kind of thing. If there's a national security issue, by all means, you go ahead and you do it.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Would another one be if there's only one product that meets a future anticipated requirement?

[Alan Williams]

If you can prove that.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Such as a C-17, C-130J, Chinook?

[Alan Williams]

Well, I would disagree with all of that, because, again, that presupposes you know there is only one.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Can you give me what might have been an alternative to the C-17 or—