QUESTION PERIOD — National Defence
Aircraft Procurement
June 6, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader. It concerns fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force, which I have raised previously in Question Period.
Recently, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute released a report that looked into the replacement process for this aircraft. The report revealed two pieces of correspondence from the U.S. Department of Defense to our own Department of National Defence, raising serious concerns that this process has discriminated against the F-35.
For example, one American official wrote in August 2018 that the procurement process “would be fundamentally and structurally prejudicial to any F-35 bid.”
Leader, in light of the findings of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute report, would this competition remain open, transparent and fair, as claimed by your government?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. I’m not familiar with the report to which he refers, but I would like to reiterate the government’s commitment to acquiring the equipment our Armed Forces need to protect Canadians, while maximizing the economic benefits of such procurement, which is a significant procurement to Canadians.
In 2017, the government launched an open and transparent competition to replace the fighter fleet with 88 advanced jets. Since the launching of this process, the government has had ongoing engagement with suppliers to seek their feedback and has afforded them the opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns and provide suggestions.
The government has been working hard to address as much of this feedback as possible to ensure a level playing field and a fair and open competition with as many eligible suppliers as possible. That is the objective of the government’s procurement process, and I am sure that any one particular interest will always argue that it is being disadvantaged until this process is concluded.
Leader, I have previously asked about the timeline associated with this competition. Could you please tell us if it is still the government’s intent to release the final request for proposals this summer? And can you please confirm by what date the envisaged replacement aircraft will achieve full operating capability?
Again, I thank the honourable senator for his question. I’m unaware of any change of the commitments of time frames that the government has already stated. I’ll be happy to make inquiries and report back.
