Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned yesterday, and the member knows it, the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat was set up, and it includes a member from the Department of national Defence, to do the due diligence necessary to replace our CF-18s. No money has been spent in the acquisition of new fighter aircraft and no money will be spent before the secretariat does all of the work necessary to independently verify the costs and the options available to replace our aging fleet of CF-18s.
In the House of Commons on October 24th, 2012. See this statement in context.