Rona Ambrose

[National Defence, April 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, what we should believe is what the Auditor General said this morning, which is that the government was moving in the right direction. That is a great endorsement for the plan that we have put in place moving forward.

There is still a lot of work to do, due diligence to undertake and transparency to be expected. That is what we expect from the Department of National Defence, that is what taxpayers expect and that is what parliamentarians should expect.

The Auditor General said very clearly that the Department of National Defence needs to table revised cost estimates. We will independently validate those before any purchase is made.

[National Defence, April 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken the recommendation of the Auditor General very seriously. He has recommended that the Department of National Defence bring forward updated cost estimates for the F-35 and transparently table those in Parliament, and we agree. However, we are going a step further. We will ensure that is done on an annual basis. We will have independent validations of the cost assumptions associated with the F-35, both in the acquisition phase and also on the maintenance contract.

The Auditor General said today that the government was going in the right direction and he also confirmed that the audit found that no money was misspent.

[National Defence, April 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that the Auditor General made one recommendation and that is that the Department of National Defence refine its cost estimates for the F-35 and table those in Parliament.

However, we are going many steps further because we want accountability, transparency and value for tax dollars. We will ensure that this is managed through an independent process outside of the Department of National Defence through a secretariat set up to manage the replacement of the CF-18 going forward.

We have frozen the funding. I am glad to hear that the Auditor General said today that the government was moving in the right direction.

[Privilege, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I say to the member that our government believes very strongly that the Auditor General's recommendations and conclusions were accurate, and we agree with them.

[National Defence, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, it is important, as we move forward, that we independently validate the new cost estimates that the Department of National Defence will table in Parliament.

We have also asked, through the secretariat, that annual updates to Parliament on the performance schedules and the cost estimates are also made public. We think that is very important. We have put in place as much accountability in this framework as we can.

To the point the members made about the secretariat, this will be managed by a committee of deputy ministers, but, again, we will look for independent validation.

[National Defence, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, committee business is up to the committee, but I would encourage as much transparency as possible on this file.

I believe that what the Auditor General is recommending is the right thing to do. We have already put in motion steps to do exactly that. We will not move forward with the purchase. The allocated funding for the F-35 has been frozen until the Department of National Defence tables updated cost estimates publicly to Parliament and we validate those independently.

[National Defence, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member that the largest procurement in the history of Canada was the shipbuilding procurement strategy and it was delivered very successfully by the government. In fact, it is seen as one of the best procurements internationally.

We have taken the Auditor General's recommendation to heart. He said that the Department of National Defence needed to refine its cost estimates and table them in Parliament, and we agree with him. We will not move forward with this purchase until that is done.

[National Defence, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General made one recommendation and that was for us to respond to the fact that officials at the Department of National Defence did not provide what he sees as accurate cost estimates for the F-35s. He wants the Department of National Defence to table those new estimates in Parliament.

We agree with him but we will go one step further to ensure taxpayers' interests are protected and to ensure these estimates are validated independently. We will create a secretariat outside of the Department of National Defence. We have frozen funding, and there will be no purchase of any new aircraft until these conditions are met.

[National Defence, April 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the Auditor General said that the officials from the Department of National Defence did not provide cost estimates for the F-35 to parliamentarians. In his recommendations he said that the Department of National Defence should update those cost estimates and table them in Parliament. We agree.

However, we will also go further than that to ensure that taxpayer dollars are respected. We are establishing a new secretariat outside of the Department of National Defence which will run the process to replace the CF-18s. We have also frozen the funding allocated for that, and no purchase will be made until these conditions are met.

[National Defence, April 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the Auditor General made one recommendation, and that is for the Department of National Defence to refine its cost estimates.

However, our response goes much further than that to address this issue. We have frozen funding for the F-35 for this project. We have also established a secretariat to manage the process of replacing the CF-18s outside of the Department of National Defence. To ensure oversight, we will have a deputy ministers committee managing this process. All cost estimates will be tabled in Parliament and made public.