Mr. Speaker, at a press conference this morning, the minister of defence quickly tabled his white paper without any warning and without regard for the Official Opposition.
The minister of defence announced that, with the holiday season approaching, he intends to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on used military equipment. The defence minister's shopping list includes four used British submarines, helicopters and armoured vehicles.
Now that the cold war is over and that the government must reduce spending, how can the minister dare contemplate at this time the acquisition of used military equipment whose usefulness is highly questionable?