Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. This is kind of déjà vu. His colleague, the national defence critic, raised the issue the other night.
Nevertheless, I am pleased to reiterate the government's position, which I believe is quite clear and in keeping with the election promises we made to all Canadians during the 2015 election.
I want to speak briefly, as my hon. colleague did, about the Phoenix pay system. We inherited this system from a government that had fired 700 of the people needed to effect the Phoenix change, booked $75 million in savings, and then said to start the project. It started on completely flawed grounds. This government is taking that project and turning it around.
If it were not the end of the week, I would remind my hon. colleague that nine years passed under the previous government and not a single military fighter jet was purchased for our men and women in uniform. This government has put us, within months of taking office, on a very clear path to filling the capability gap that exists, and it does exist, to extending the life our current fleet. I do not have the exact numbers, but in rough numbers, they went from 125 down to 75 CF-18 jets currently. We are extending the life of those in my home province of Quebec, and I am very pleased we are doing that.
We have initiated discussions with the U.S. government. We submitted a letter, and await negotiations with Boeing and others with respect to procuring an interim fleet of Super Hornets, something we are very excited to do. If we look at some of the literature that is being published, clearly the Canadian industry is very excited we are doing this. We have put a very clear process before Canadians, and that is to meet our NORAD and NATO requirements. With the horrors we see in Syria and other places and not knowing where Canadians may be pressed into service in other parts of the world, heaven knows there are other places we are going to need fighter jets as well.
Finally, we have committed to an open, transparent, and long-term purchase of fighter aircraft for our men and women in uniform. We have committed, at every step of the way, to consult with industry, obviously consult with our men and women in uniform, as well as the military, which will be very engaged on defining capabilities and ensuring we get the right aircraft for our country, the right aircraft at the right price and at the right time.
I can only conclude by assuring the hon. member that we have a unique geography, we have a unique climate, and we are a unique player in NATO and other alliances. Canada has specific and special requirements when it comes to purchases that total hundreds of billions of dollars over their life cycle, and we will take the time to get it right.