Mr. Chair, it's unfortunate that we had to have the committee interrupted today because of the limitation of debate and of speaking in the House with the vote that was forced by the Liberals. It was unfortunate, to say the least, but I'm glad that both Admiral Finn and Ms. Campbell are back in front of us again.
I want to talk a bit about a couple of things on the current contracts that have caused some concern in the media.
One is the gag order, the clause that is put in the surface combatant contract, with Irving ultimately having the final say on whether or not the people tendering, the contractors or subcontractors, are allowed to speak to the media or to academics. Even though there was a clarification that was published by the government, Dave Perry said:
I don't understand how [anything] can be misconstrued. “You shall not speak in public”. It's an attempt to keep the competition out of the headlines.
If there is that type of gag order in place on the tender for the design of the future surface combatants for the Royal Canadian Navy, how are we going to be able to know that the navy is getting the best ship? How are we going to know that the taxpayer is getting best bang for their buck? When there's a gag order in place, how are academics, defence experts, and the public going to know whether or not the competition has been fair, open, and transparent?