Madam Chair, right now we do not have enough aircraft to meet our NORAD and NATO commitments simultaneously. The 65 aircraft the previous government wanted were not enough.
We took a very thorough approach in our defence policy review to have a good understanding of the threats. That is why we actually increased the number to 88. It is a real number based on our commitments.
We are committed to an open competition so that we can pick the best aircraft for our air force.