Mr. Chair, the minister's estimates say that he is asking for $3.2 billion as the total cost of this tactical purchase for the acquisition of 17 aircraft. Whatever model the minister buys, simple math tells us this gives him a budget of $188 million per plane. Something does not add up when we know that the Italians bought these planes at $65 million per plane. Even if the minister added two years of training, support and spare parts or even if he threw in the cost of managing the project, the accounting would still be an insult to Canadian taxpayers at $188 million per plane instead of $65 million.
Will the minister promise right now that he will go back to his officials and redo his homework on the cost of this multi-billion dollar project?