Mr. Speaker, I have two questions for the hon. member, who sits with me on the defence committee. I want to put forward the setting before I ask the two questions, one on the C-17 and one on the procurement process.
Mr. Speaker, you will recall, as I know you were in the House, that about three or so years ago Canada's first central command was introduced by the military. At that time, the then Liberal government appropriated about $13.5 billion for the acquisition of new equipment. The policy was put forward by the military. The government then put in its budget the money to acquire this equipment.
The hon. member has served on the committee, which I chaired, and at that time we commenced a process to evaluate our procurement system. We visited and wanted to hear from other countries. It was not that our procurement process was not good. It just needed improvement. Does she not agree that we should have completed this evaluation of procurement processes before the new government commenced procuring?
I will close with my second question, which is on the C-17. I think the hon. member is well aware that there are two proposals, one for leasing, which will eliminate some of the problems mentioned earlier, as opposed to buying. If I understood it correctly, there would be savings of almost half a billion dollars for Canadians. Maybe she can confirm that.
Could the member please comment on those two questions?