National Defence committee  I would just say that I don't think there would be universal agreement that Australia has actually succeeded on a lot of different projects. If you look around, there are different things you could take from different jurisdictions. There's not any particular place, that I'm awar

National Defence committee  If I could just go quickly on that one, it's a good idea in principle, but it doesn't make a difference if you don't actually hold anyone accountable. There are lots of examples I can think of right off the top of my head in government, even related to procurement, where there's

National Defence committee  Not if it doesn't actually.... You could create a perfect model where, theoretically, you could hold somebody accountable, but if you're not actually prepared to do that, it won't make a difference. It would increase a huge amount of churn while you're going through the process o

National Defence committee  I agree. I think we're seeing a return to the need to be at least cognizant of the potential for great power conflict in a way we haven't been in the past. It doesn't mean it will necessarily occur, but I think Canada needs to be cognizant, given our position in the world. I'm pu

National Defence committee  I totally think there's room for three shipyards, given the potential work that would exist right now just to simply replace things in the federal inventory that need to be replaced. The national shipbuilding procurement strategy, when it was called that, only covered certain typ

National Defence committee  Exactly. We could debate the timing, but I think the original project and the original requirement for that particular capability was for three or four ships. I would still build the joint support ships, though, because they'll do different things than the interim AOR can. Beyo

National Defence committee  I think, number one, there's a need to treat defence procurement, or the procurement of any large, complex activity in government, like it's something that important and it's something that's unique. We tend to treat it in a number of different ways. We hire procurement officials

National Defence committee  Still nowhere close.

National Defence committee  I don't know off the top of my head what the Coast Guard's budget is.

National Defence committee  Not if we're aiming to actually increase capability. You can fudge the accounting any number of different ways. I don't personally see that there is much benefit in that. I think we should spend more if we want the armed forces to do the same types of things.

National Defence committee  I would just start off by saying that I don't know anybody who is involved in the file who thinks we are going to get 15 of any of the proposed designs for a project budget of $26.2 billion, regardless of what we do. So either that number changes or the allocation changes or we b

National Defence committee  If we were to meet it today, we'd need about another $21 billion at the start of the next fiscal year. It's up to the politicians in the room to determine whether or not there's $21 billion, whether or not it's borrowed or taxed or whatever, in the fiscal framework to fund that.

National Defence committee  That changes the amount a little bit. That's why I say that it depends on whether or not, when you talk about these shares of GDP, it's money actually spent or money allocated. If we were actually able to execute what's in the fiscal framework right now, that would push spending

National Defence committee  I would say it's the money. In the long term, if there isn't more money, the navy is going to lose capability and lose readiness over time. If there's more money, then it's a question of how it gets spent and what that's actually directed toward. Depending on the allocation, the

National Defence committee  Yes.