Madam Chairman, the answer is that every other major NATO country has new vessels under acquisition or under development, and it is relevant for us to compare ourselves. The only standards of measurement we have are comparable countries and comparable militaries in our military alliances.
The minister disingenuously suggests that Canada has the fifth largest defence expenditure in NATO. He knows that in relevant terms we have the second lowest, ahead only of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, at 1.1% of GDP versus the NATO average of 2.1% or 2.2%.
I would like to know how the minister finds any pride when he goes to NATO ministerial meetings defending his government. He knows full well that at NATO, at the OECD and where it matters they look at relative expenditures, relative to a nation's wealth and capacity. When they see this country financing our defence at one-half the NATO average, how does that make him feel at those NATO ministerial meetings?
I have another question. How many fixed wing aircraft, other than the Challengers, do we have on order today?