Government Operations committee  I can speak to that.

Government Operations committee  I don't think it's one or the other. I think if you understand the process—

Government Operations committee  —and you follow the process through the front door, then you can do things smartly and quickly—

Government Operations committee  I'm trying to remember the comments from Mr. Housefather. I'll let it be for the moment.

Government Operations committee  Oh yes, absolutely. It was suggested that somehow my comments are tainted because I'm in a conflict of interest with companies that are interested, in one shape or another, in the CSC program. That is absolutely and unequivocally not true. I am not working for, paid by or invol

Government Operations committee  Christian's comments were absolutely incorrect. I have no conflicts of interest. I have no clients that are involved with the CSC. For him to even suggest that is unconscionable.

Government Operations committee  My recommendation in my notes is very clear. We should buy three of this kind. We have economies of scale and we have costs of nearly $1 billion. Let's get three this way. At the same time, in parallel, we can do the process the right way and get a decision on another design, pot

Government Operations committee  That's not true. I can't allow that to stand. That's an accusation—

Government Operations committee  I have a few comments. First, with regard to America, they've only increased the length of their ship by 23.6 feet and only by 500 tonnes. From a physical standpoint, that's relatively minor. If you read the reports on it, they do not presume that there are going to be signific

Government Operations committee  In my note, you will see that I make reference to the U.S. FFG-62 frigate program, in which they did everything the way we ought to do things. They demanded a proven parent design. The Type 26 was not even considered—you were non-compliant if you proposed that. They demanded off-

Government Operations committee  I think so. I could never have imagined such obfuscation and, I'm going to say, incompetence in terms of designing this kind of a process. There is no justification for it. I don't know how it ever got approved, and we're all paying the price for it right now. This thing started

Government Operations committee  This issue is, in my experience, unique to the Canadian surface combatant project. Essentially, the government said that, in order to build these ships, they were going to pre-select a yard that everybody was going to have to bid with, and they selected, in the case of the large

Government Operations committee  Let me separate the two. In fairness to the F-35, the government is in charge, not the private sector. Lockheed Martin is not in charge. The government selected that plane. It is the government and its officials that will be monitoring the development of the program as it goes f

Government Operations committee  Obviously, I am speaking as someone with experience in procurement and in your bureaucracy. My contention is that this program in particular suffered extraordinary incompetence. People devised the process as if they knew nothing about how procurement should work. This has nothi

Government Operations committee  Thanks. I'm glad you've read the comments, because that will save me a lot of time and, frankly, heartache. This program is going to cost a quarter of a trillion dollars. People should realize that it is financially incapable of being done the way we're doing it. Just about ever