Mr. Chair, I appreciate the time warning.
Again, annex 3.1 on Treasury Board questions for sole source states that contracting officers may allow for major procurements to occur without competition only when it is fair and reasonable, given all other options.
Again I ask the minister, what other options were explored? When we look at other countries, we see they have been able to make decisions quickly. We know that all the homework has already been done on finding a replacement for our CF-18s. The surveys have been done of aircraft manufacturers. The former Conservative government did them and the current Liberal government has done them.
We know that Denmark selected its planes in 11 months. Norway's took one year and 11 months. South Korea did its selection in one year and four months. It has been a year since the minister made the decision and made the announcement that we are sole-sourcing Super Hornets, yet we still have not signed a contract for them, as was confirmed by the deputy minister when he was at committee just a couple of weeks ago. What other options were explored, or is this being done strictly for political reasons so that the government does not have to buy an F-35, because that is what it told Canadians in the last election?