Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in today's debate. I want to point out, first of all, that the Liberal Party supports the replacement of the CF-18s.
Obviously the replacement is absolutely critical. This party has stood and continues to stand in support of our military. It was in 2005 that the Paul Martin government brought in the largest amount of money in support of the defence department, $15 billion.
This issue is really about process. It is about how this has developed into what the government is now claiming to be an agreement in which we are to purchase 65 F-35s. Obviously it is to protect our north and guard our sovereignty, all of which we agree with. However, I think the process is at the core of this debate. The process did not involve any government effort to negotiate a better price for Canadian taxpayers.
Currently we have a $56 billion deficit in this country, and the government is going to borrow up to $16 billion-plus for this new fighter aircraft. Who is going to pay for these? Obviously it is the taxpayers, and clearly it is at a time when we do not have those dollars.
The process did not follow the very rules that the government is sworn to uphold, which the government used to quote when responding to our party when we were in government.
This process not only pretty much guarantees we are going to be over-paying for the CF-18 replacements for the next 30 years; it also undercuts industry's right to guaranteed benefits, particularly on the economic side, for Canadian industry.
This, of course, is not the process the government is supposed to follow when making these types of major procurements. Let me quote from the Treasury Board guidelines, which lay out the proper process the government should have followed when making this procurement, and which our national experts have spent decades developing to ensure that we get the best deal on purchases like this.
In section 9.45 of the Treasury Board guidelines it clearly states that competition remains “the cornerstone of the Canadian government procurement process”. It is the most effective and most efficient way of achieving the goals of government. “It gives suppliers the incentive to bring forward their best solution to the operational problem at a competitive price, as well as respond to more effective requirements in support of other national objectives”.
What happened in this case? Clearly the government took an end run on these guidelines. For four years now, the government has increasingly ignored the competitive process. So it is not just in this case of the F-35s.
Do not take my word for it. I would like to point out statistics we heard before the defence committee last month from the man who used to be in charge of the department's procurement section. He said the following.
Statistics show that under the previous Liberal government of Paul Martin in 2004, only 8.8% of defence spending was spent through untendered contracts. In 2005 this number still remained relatively low at 14.6%. But in 2006 we saw the beginning of a drastic increase under the Conservatives. That year 27.3% of defence spending bypassed the competitive process, a number that increased again to 31.9% the following year. Compare that to today, when 42% of defence contracts Conservatives signed last year were without any competitive process. It is 42% uncompetitive.
It is no wonder we have racked up the largest deficit in Canadian history. Again, we are not going out and getting the best price. We are simply sole-sourcing. This is obviously costing all of us, members of the Canadian public, the taxpayers, a significant number of dollars.
That is what competition is there for. It is to get the best price, to make sure the Canadian taxpayer is getting value for dollar. This party has talked about value for dollar with regard to this issue from the beginning. That is a responsibility the government has chosen to ignore.
The other reason is to make sure we get the best equipment available to us. Never is this more important than when we are talking about military procurement for our men and women in the air force. We want to make sure they have the best tools available. Again, without an active, open, transparent and fair competition, we do not know that.
At the defence committee we heard from Boeing. We heard from other competitors, who clearly indicated this was not a competitive process, who indicated they can provide value for dollar, in fact less cost to the taxpayer. Yet the government has chosen to ignore that, and we have again a sole-source contract. That obviously is of concern to this party. It is of concern to me as the vice-chair of the defence committee.
I would point out that the government keeps talking about next generation fighter aircraft. Next generation is actually a catchphrase. It is a marketing slogan that has been used in order to talk about this particular aircraft.
It is incumbent upon all parliamentarians to make sure we do get value for dollar. It is incumbent upon all parliamentarians to ensure that the process as outlined in Treasury Board guidelines is followed. If that is not followed, then we cannot be sure that we are getting the best price for Canadian taxpayers, and we clearly are not sure.
The debate and discussion that I have heard from the government is that the JSF was developed. There was a so-called competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the United States. I would point out that now the American government is quite concerned about the cost overruns of this jet, as are the British and other countries.
One of the things we have not been able to glean from the government is why it thinks this is the best aircraft in terms of the needs, the capabilities we need as a country for the Arctic, as an example. Is this the aircraft we absolutely need?
We will continue to debate this. It is unfortunate when this was announced by the minister. This was announced in July, in the summer. The Conservative government has a tremendous record of announcing things outside the purview of Parliament. We heard that last week with regard to the issue of our soldiers being involved with training in Afghanistan. Budgets have been presented outside of this institution. That erodes the role and the authority of members of Parliament. That is why the defence committee has taken up this particular issue and why this party has put forward this important motion today. We want to discuss this issue.
The fact is that cost overruns have to be, and continue to be, a major concern. We do not even know what the operational life costs are going to be in terms of this aircraft. My friends across the way will say that we did not have that with the CF-18s until four years after the fact. The costs we are looking at for this aircraft alone are the most we have ever paid, and obviously those additional costs go well beyond $18 billion; they could go to $25 billion or $30 billion, by some estimates. Obviously when the British and others are saying they should maybe scale back and look at this whole component again as to whether or not they can afford it, that is an issue.
Winslow Wheeler, who is a renowned defence analyst and someone who has been around the United States Congress for more than 30 years, pointed out a number of deficiencies with regard to this aircraft. We are obviously going to be looking at that. Some members of the defence committee will have an opportunity to go to Texas to talk to the manufacturer and ask some of those tough questions.
I want people to understand that we certainly are asking questions and we are going to continue to ask questions, which is why it is important that we go to Texas and talk to the manufacturer. We will be able to ask not only the manufacturer but hopefully Boeing and others in terms of what information they can provide, because this contract will not officially be signed for about three years. It is important that we do that. My friends across the way have agreed to do that. We are looking for value for dollar. We want to make sure we get the right aircraft. We are going to continue to ask questions on operational capability, about whether this is the right aircraft, particularly for the north as a single engine versus a dual engine plane.
Make no mistake about it. We support replacing the CF-18s. The issue is whether or not we can afford what is being proposed by the government and whether or not the F-35 is the plane for our forces.