Thank you, Chair.
Welcome to all of our witnesses here today. It's a pleasure to have you here. We'll try to get some clarity with regard to some of the perceptions or misperceptions that are out there.
The bottom line is that at some point we'll need to know exactly how much this will cost Canadian taxpayers. Treasury Board and/or cabinet will actually make a decision. Of course, there have been no acquisitions to date, and no expenditures for acquisitions, but when that time does come, obviously information is critical.
The Auditor General made it clear that many of the costs are not yet reliably known, or cannot even be fully estimated at this point. That, of course, includes the basic recurring flyaway costs, which of course are debatable in a number of areas. There are the costs of the required Canadian modifications. We're not buying an identical aircraft. I understand there are three models out there. There obviously will be cost differentials. Of course, the different equipment on them will obviously make a significant difference.
Going forward, my question to National Defence would be that at some point in this process.... As a matter of fact, this might even eventually come to the secretariat, but I'm asking for an opinion now from National Defence. When do you anticipate that these cost estimates, as this process becomes more complete, will become available?