You bring up a very good point. Within the department there's always consensus before we go to any major procurement program. So this is not something the air force runs up to the minister's office with and gives our advice, saying we'd like him to procure this. I have to get my colleagues---the army, navy, and special forces, the entire department--to support the program as to what is needed to meet defence needs. So we have to go through a very robust internal vetting process, because, as you mentioned, money is tight for all these programs, and therefore great scrutiny is applied outside the air force to make sure this is truly what the department needs to look at and needs to program into procurement.
So before it gets to the minister or to government for advice, it has been thoroughly scrutinized within the department by CF colleagues and the department, the non-military side. That's why we sit around these project boards, and all these programs have to go through that filter at several levels--joint, and then the project management board--before it even gets close to government advice. So internally there's a very robust screening process to make sure programs that make it to advice to government have been looked at very thoroughly.
I think your question is a bit beyond the internal mechanisms of Defence. It probably speaks more to how we get to policy, because that's what we're reacting to. It goes back to the Canada First defence strategy, which announces our international policy. Therefore, we will be able to participate nationally as a coalition or within other alliances to deliver international peace and stability.
This is really the debate I think you're referring to. How do we shape national policies? That's very much in the political domain, and that's a process I believe that has been debated or talked about for a long time, and I certainly can't answer it. But I would believe that's the area that nationally should be well aired, so when we go to these procurements, there's at least an agreement that fighters are required. If fighters are not seen as required, anything we buy seems too much. We have to get the principles of understanding in the first instance. I think that's the important piece, and afterwards it's a lot easier to have consensus on what equipment best fits that need.