Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Defence. The Department of National Defence proposes to invest over $68.5 million to build new facilities at the base in Goose Bay so that the number of low level flights can increase from the current 8,000 to over 18,000. Yet, there is no new firm contract with participating NATO countries to justify such an investment.
How can the minister be planning to authorize such additional spending to increase the number of flights when he knows full well that the U.S. withdrew from this Canadian agreement in 1991 and that Germany signed an agreement for such flights with New Mexico last May?