Thank you.
I want to also add my words of welcome to the new minister in his portfolio and to reinforce the previous comments of the importance of the department and our Canadian Armed Forces to the collective security and defence of our country and our playing our part abroad.
One of the challenges the minister has, of course, is that the Canada First defence strategy talks about stable and increasing funding as being foundational to the whole strategy, and he is dealing with budget reductions and budget cuts, contrary to the foundation of that strategy. Trying to understand how that may be impacting some of the goals....
I'm looking at the funding that's being requested of $400 million to support the ongoing implementation of the Canada First defence strategy, talking about equipment. The question I have has to do with the closed combat vehicle project. It was announced four and a half years ago in 2009. The minister of the day said we owe it to Canadian soldiers to give them the protective equipment they need to do the job we've asked them to do.
Two billion dollars was budgeted for the 108 CCVs. They were intended to be arriving in 2012, and of course that's not the case. Currently there is uncertainty about this project.
Can the minister confirm whether that project is a go or not?