Mr. Chair, the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force has said that if we started a competition right now and made a decision and purchased a new plane within five years, there would be no problem in making sure our current fleet of CF-18s, with the life-extension project under way, would be able to fly until 2025, when the new planes would come in, but the plan that the minister has rolled out would actually take our current fleet of CF-18s beyond 2025, and that would actually make it more dangerous for our pilots and give us a less capable air force overall.
I know that the minister has to be aware of this. The commander of the air force actually said just a year ago that he is confident that the decision was taken that I have already talked about. The Agreement on Internal Trade says, in paragraph 506.11(a), that it allows the use of alternative procurement procedures only when an unforeseeable situation of urgency exists. If the commander believes that if the decision can be made in five years and there is no urgency, does the minister really believe what he is proposing in bringing forward the sole-source purchase, when there is not a capability gap? When the government is prepared to trade away the purchase of the Super Hornets because of the trade war that is going on with Boeing and Bombardier, will the minister admit that he is actually in violation of paragraph 506.11(a)?