Mr. Chair, buying used Australian fighter jets is not a sound way of making our air force stronger. The minister often talks about how we need pilots to fly them, but under his watch, over 20% of our pilots have left the air force because of the mismanagement of the Liberal government.
We have Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Both U.S. companies are not happy about the new RFP. Letters have been sent by United States departmental officials such as Ellen Lord, and they were published in the Macdonald-Laurier report. Officials are incredibly upset with how the Liberal government has handled our relationship with the United States under the NORAD construct.
Has anyone in the minister's office or his department met with Pentagon or White House officials in the last couple of weeks to talk about the new request for proposals for our fighter jet competition?