House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2015, with 42% of the vote.
National Defence December 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is fascinating to see just how difficult it is to get a clear answer to a simple question.
Are the Conservatives considering any fighter jets other than the F-35? For example, the Eurofighter has a maximum speed of Mach 2, a combat radius of 601 km and a thrust to weight ratio of 1.25.
Are the Conservatives considering that option?
National Defence December 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the question seemed simple to me.
Are the Conservatives considering any fighter jets other than the F-35?
For example, the Dassault Rafale has a maximum speed of Mach 1.8, a combat radius of 925 km and a thrust to weight ratio of 1.1.
Are the Conservatives considering that option?
National Defence December 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the leaks to the media about the KPMG cost audit and the cabinet discussions do not in any way change what is really happening: the Conservatives are once again making arrangements to have a single supplier replace the CF-18s.
They told us that the statement of operational requirements that was tailored to the F-35 would be set aside, but are the Conservatives going to commit to presenting a new statement of operational requirements in order to finally implement a real tendering process?
National Defence December 11th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, either the Minister of National Defence does not see fit to explain or the Prime Minister no longer trusts him and would prefer that he remain seated.
The Minister of National Defence fought tooth and nail to defend the decision to purchase the F-35, even going so far as making unfounded attacks on our support for our troops. At one point, the minister even said that, if we did not purchase the F-35s immediately, we would no longer be able to defend Canada or honour our NATO commitments.
The Minister of National Defence's F-35 fiasco has been disavowed, but he is still minister. Will he finally live up to his responsibilities?
National Defence December 11th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it was not so long ago that the Minister of National Defence was insisting that the total cost of the F-35s was going to be $9 billion. Anyone who said differently was simply making up numbers. The minister also said that we did not need a bidding process because the F-35 was the only alternative if we wanted to give our troops the best equipment possible.
If he still thinks that giving Lockheed Martin the contract without a bidding process is the right thing to do, he needs to stop hiding behind the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and stand up and explain himself.
National Defence December 10th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it will be a seven-point failure if there is no new statement of operational requirements and if there is no open and transparent bidding process. The reality is that $700 million of taxpayer money has already been spent on the F-35 money pit.
The Minister of National Defence was more than available for a photo-op next to the F-35. Now, not so much.
When will the Conservatives admit their failure in this military procurement case?
National Defence December 10th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, again with regard to the F-35s, the Conservatives approved a statement of operational requirements containing requirements that only Lockheed Martin could meet with its F-35. The Conservatives have already spent $700 million on the F-35 joint strike fighter jet program, but they still refuse to formally cancel the sole-source F-35 purchasing process.
How much more money and time will the government have to waste before it wakes up and holds an open and transparent tendering process to replace our CF-18s?
National Defence December 6th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, in response to an earlier question about transparency in the failed procurement process for the F-35s, the Prime Minister said that the Conservatives were going to be diligent. How can they be trusted? The Auditor General has condemned their practices and the secretariat is now making the same mistakes.
When the Prime Minister talks about diligence, is he referring to the diligence with which he and his government hid the truth about the F-35s?
National Defence December 5th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, not so long ago, everything was going well in the Conservatives' little F-35 fantasy world. But that was before the technical problems and cost issues came to light.
The Conservatives thought they could buy 65 planes for $9 billion. That is impossible. Furthermore, the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative cabinet knew that.
Why did they try to convince Canadians that the F-35 was the right kind of plane, when all the documentation proving otherwise was in Conservative hands all along?
Questions on the Order Paper November 30th, 2012
With regard to the decision to send Canadian Forces personnel to Afghanistan: (a) what specific evaluations of the additional requirements and costs for health-care services for the Forces (funding and budget, health-care staff and professionals, their areas of specialization, organizational structure, evaluation tools, recruiting programs, and any other aspects) were conducted before or after this decision, including evaluations of (i) the requirements of the mission in Canada and in the field, (ii) the long-term needs of service personnel and veterans following the mission, (iii) mental-health assessments; (b) what were the findings and recommendations of these evaluations, and (i) what recommendations were implemented and to what extent, (ii) what recommendations were not implemented and why, (iii) what follow-up was conducted on the recommendations that were implemented; (c) what programs and recruitment campaigns were introduced for health-care staff and professionals; and (d) how many health-care staff and professionals were recruited while Canadian Forces personnel were deployed to Afghanistan, and to what extent has the number of medical staff and health-care professionals increased compared with the number of uniformed Canadian Forces service persons deployed?