National Defence Committee on June 13th, 2017

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Could we take two minutes just to read this? There's a lot there, and I just want to digest this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You can take a minute.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

If people have their hands up and want to talk to it in the meantime, they should go for it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Randall, you would like to speak to this.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

If I understood correctly the answer given in question period today by the parliamentary secretary, the government has not decided yet to buy Super Hornets. He said it's something they're considering. So we seem to have had, from the time this was moved, a change in the government's position from a decision to a consideration. Given that that's the case, I guess I would say that this motion has become premature—which is a very weird of use of tense, since the government hasn't actually made such a decision.

Now, what we've always said is that the thing we're missing here is the list of criteria of what we expect jets to do and what we expect to use them for. Until we have that list of criteria, I'm not sure how any government, whether the previous Conservatives or the Liberals, has made decisions about fighter jets.

I think the committee doesn't need this; I think we need to ask the government to give us a clear statement of what the Royal Canadian Air Force has determined are the capabilities they need in fighter jets. Then the government could go ahead and conduct an open competition based on those criteria. Without those criteria, and given that the government hasn't made a decision, I don't think this motion should go forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Okay.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

First of all, on the issue of whether it's an official government position, we have to remember that the Government of Canada did send a letter to the White House administration asking them to make the Super Hornet available for an interim purchase and requesting 18 planes. The government has taken a position.

Now, have the wheels fallen off that request, with the Bombardier-Boeing fight? Maybe, but at the same time they haven't said that they're not buying the Super Hornet, either. The minister has been clear in his interviews, including this past weekend, that they are looking at all the options, but that still includes the Super Hornet.

Because there is the official request from the government to the U.S. administration to clear the path for Canada to acquire 18 Super Hornets, I think this is relevant.

For those of you who are concerned about the wording of this motion, I would just point out that this motion is completely replicated from a motion by Minister Scott Brison. He brought forward this exact motion about F-35s in 2009.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Did it pass?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

It did pass, because it was a minority government.

I hope everybody would see how well crafted it is, especially since it came from one of your colleagues.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I was just going to say, James, that you did a really good job on this.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

All I did was change “Lockheed Martin” to “Boeing”, and “F-35s” to “F-18s”.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

That would explain why Randall is against it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Does anybody else want to speak to this?

Sven, go ahead.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Just briefly to Randall's point.... Again, the minister is available. If there is discussion on the criteria, that can certainly be asked next week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

James, go ahead.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Okay, but I am asking....

You can ask the minister all you want. We have the minister coming.

This is about, first, the parliamentary budget officer being able to do his work, and getting it done in the next three weeks so that we have a chance to see it. Second, it's about the demand for the production of papers from the government on their own accounting and their own information, and how this is going to impact our budget and impact jobs. I think this is something Canadians are very interested in, regardless of the defence policy.

Right now they're not saying what type of plane it will be, but they are still talking about an interim buy. They are still talking about spending $5 billion to $7 billion on 18 jets, which is pretty pricey.

I think this is a very relevant motion. I would ask that everyone support it, especially since it is crafted by your Treasury Board president—he'd probably support this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'm going to call the question, then.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I think it's a Conservative who wrote it.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

It goes back to 2003.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

I would like a recorded vote, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Okay, we'll have a recorded vote.

(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 3)

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

In fact, your own defence policy indicates that Canada must acquire sophisticated planes. Since the Super Hornet isn't a sophisticated plane, you've already eliminated it.

Let's move on to the next point.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Do you want to withdraw yours now?

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Mr. Chair, I thank Mr. Bezan for reminding me that I had one motion outstanding, which was asking for a study on the fire at CFAD Bedford. We haven't been able to get to it. Given the workload of the committee and the time that has already passed, I am going to pursue that through other means. I wish to withdraw the motion.

(Motion withdrawn [See Minutes of Proceedings])