I never got that impression throughout my retirement period. I know that when the 2006 MOU was signed, if you read the reports and statements at that time, neither did the Canadian government at the time, because they acknowledged in the release of December 11 that they were still looking at competition. Michael Slack at the same time is quoted as saying that this doesn't foreclose any competition. There were subsequent memos from Industry Canada saying that this, again, doesn't preclude.
Even the chief of the air staff, André Deschamps, on the day, I think, that the announcement was made, is quoted in the issue of Canadian Defence Review, when asked about the Joint Strike Fighter.... I'll read this to you. This interview took place just a few months before; it came out in June. The question from the magazine was: “Where is the next generation fighter on your list of priorities?”
The next generation fighter is very high on my list. We know government wants to get to that discussion soon, and we definitely need to get on with a process to get a new fighter. It sounds like a long time away, but as we know it takes a lot to go through a contracting process and produce a new fighter. We just finished upgrading our CF-18s to what we call the R2 standard. It's a tremendous upgrade creating a great platform, and will give us a high performing aircarft to keep us competitive certainly through this decade. That doesn't mean we shouldn't move forward on selecting what will replace the CF-18. Were moving forward hopefully in the not too distant future to establish a discussion with government.
So I would argue that not only had the government basically stated that this didn't preclude a competition, but certainly inside the department the chief of air staff, in response to the question, didn't say “I can't wait to get the Joint Strike Fighter; I expect that announcement to be imminent—that's the only one for us.”
All of this comes clearly to reflect the position that there in fact would be a competition.
I would disagree with him when he says it takes an awfully long time. I think we could do it in a short timeframe, but that's another question.