Mr. Chair, I would like to go back to tactical aircraft.
I have just gone over the numbers again. Correct me if I have the wrong figures, but the total cost of the project is $4.9 billion, $3.2 billion of which is the cost of acquiring the equipment. Unless I am mistaken or my calculator is wrong, $3.2 billion divided by 17 airplanes means that each one costs $188 million.
Why does the minister insist on telling me that each one costs $108 million when each one really costs $188 million? That is the number I am getting. I do not want to repeat all of the figures given earlier, but according to those numbers, the acquisition cost of each aircraft varies from $44 million to $71 million, and depending on those who procured them before us, we will be paying three or four times the actual cost of the planes. That does not make sense.
I would like the minister to go over this again. There are the support costs, but those are separate. The cost to acquire the 17 aircraft is $3.2 billion. I agree with him that we will not be paying for that in cash tomorrow morning. The cost will be accounted over the lifetime of the planes, which will be used again elsewhere. For now though, that is the price we will be paying and it looks to me as though it is three or four times higher than what other suppliers were paid.