Madam Speaker, I wish to compliment the hon. member from Vancouver Island. As he has an air force base in his riding so I have one in mine, Shearwater, where I believe most of the replacements will hopefully eventually end up.
In an earlier question I had for the minister of public works, I said that the way this tendering process is split basically excludes a particular company from bidding on the contract. I never mentioned the name of the company. In the minister's reply, the minister said Cormorant, so even the government knows the company that is being excluded from this process.
It is not for members of parliament to stand up in the House and support one company over another one, but the member from Vancouver Island is right when he says it is up to us to ensure that all tendered contracts, especially for something as valuable as armed forces, are as open and transparent as possible so that everyone has an opportunity to bid fairly.
I wonder whether he could just elaborate on that, please.