Evidence of meeting #36 for National Defence in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
Bryon Wilfert Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
The motion, Mr. Chairman, is:
That, in light of recent revelations that the Department of National Defence has secretly leased and operated a fleet of Mi-17 helicopters in Kandahar province, the Minister of National Defence be asked to appear before this committee immediately following the conclusion of its study into the purchase of next-generation fighter jets to answer questions pertaining to the aforementioned contract and other unannounced contracts entered into by the Department of National Defence in support of the Canadian Forces mission in Afghanistan.
The intent of the motion is to deal with the amount and the process. That's my position.
Conservative
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
We did talk about the program in question period, but perhaps not in the detail Mr. Wilfert wanted. As was clearly said, the program is temporary, and it expires at the end of the combat mission. It's a very temporary thing. It has less than seven months to go.
Our concern with the discussion is that it might easily drift into areas the government cannot talk about.
Conservative
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
I'm wondering about the term that was used: “secret”. Do you mean that it was officially stamped “secret”, Bryon, and that it was a secret lease?
Liberal
Bryon Wilfert Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Through you, Mr. Chairman, it was not on any of the documents we received regarding the National Defence budget. In other words, no costed-out acquisitions appeared with regard to these helicopters.
While I have the floor, Mr. Chairman, I would also indicate, in response to Mr. Hawn, that I would be quite happy to have the discussion in camera. Again, knowing the excellent work of the chairman, we would stick to the two areas I'm interested in, which are process and amount. We won't be wandering off into other areas.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
The fact is that there are a lot of other contracts that DND enters into and that other government departments enter into. It's not because there's a big secret or anything else. There are a lot of contracts, and it goes on in all departments, that aren't news release items, and so on. This is not unusual in that respect.
Liberal
Bryon Wilfert Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that, except for the fact that helicopters are not your everyday item. That's why I would like to have that looked at.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Again, there's no point in belabouring it, because I know which way this is going to go. But we will be voting against it.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
I understand. But we know how this is going to turn out. That's fine.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Maxime Bernier
Do we have other members who want to discuss the motion presented by Mr. Wilfert?
Everybody has the motion in front of them. All in favour?
(Motion agreed to)
Before leaving, I just want to inform the members officially that our trip to Texas has been cancelled. So next Tuesday you're going to be free. We won't have a committee meeting, because we don't have any time to change anything. We'll be back Thursday next week with Lockheed Martin.
Also, I want to inform the members that our trip to the Atlantic will be January 31 to February 3, Mr. Harris.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Maxime Bernier
Yes. We had a motion adopted last week on that, so I would just inform the members that the clerk is working with these dates.
Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.
The meeting is adjourned.
