Mr. Chair, I understand that, but I still want to know who has the final authority or responsibility for procurement in the Department of National Defence.
Pierre Lagueux, who was the former assistant deputy minister of materiel, appeared before the committee not long after the minister did. I asked him about the minister's response and he said, “I've read the transcripts, and I've been watching the committee with interest. To be quite frank, I'm a little surprised at that”. Mr. Lagueux went on to say further that in his time at DND, “it was clear to me who was going to hang if things went wrong”, namely the Minister of National Defence.
Would the minister agree that he is actually the minister with final responsibility for defence procurement?