In fact it was an observer, as my hon. colleague from Newfoundland says. That is what it was.
The assistant deputy minister at the time of those occurrences at the turn of the millennium was Alan Williams. He said the reason for joining the JSF program was not the urgency of replacing the F-18s but the potential industrial opportunities that would come from being part of that proposal. Before the government ever made its decision that it would purchase the F-35s, 144 contracts were already awarded, supporting what Mr. Williams was saying.
In relation to the minister's and Prime Minister's claims of there being a past competition, this is what Mr. Williams said:
On October 26, 2001 Edward Aldridge, Under Secretary of Defense—
This is, of course, in the United States:
—announced that Lockheed Martin was the successful candidate over Boeing.
He went on to say:
[W]e were all glued to our TVs at National Defence headquarters awaiting the announcement.
How is it exactly that this was a Canadian competition? How is it there was a competition that Canada was not part of and we had no decision-making role in it whatsoever, but that is good enough for the government?