Today in the Senate, Senator Ringuette questioned the Leader of the government in the Senate on her government’s announcement that they would be purchasing four C-17 cargo airlifts from the U.S. government for $3 billion dollars.
“Given that we already have an agreement with 15 other NATO partners to share in a pool of large long-distance planes, on a per hour fee, I wanted to know if the government received a proper business and financial analysis before making this expensive decision. The only answer I could get… ” stated Senator Ringuette.
In fact, on February 21st, Senator Ringuette sent a request through her office to get information from National Defense. She requested information on all ‘DND airlifting equipment, which was in the past 10 years, either leased or purchased, its purpose, its cost by lifts and trips and its contractual suppliers, including the amount of the contracts’. On March 7th, National Defense replied that the information was not readily available, so her office had to make a request via the access to information act. After doing so, the department then advised her on April 28th that it was a big task to do the research and that it would cost her $10,416.00.
“It means, as of April 28th, the information had still not been gathered for a proper analysis by National Defense. I am no military expert, but I know how to review a business case. I want the Leader of the government to table, in the Senate, the business case related to the purchase decision, without tender, for the purchase of the four C-17” said Senator Ringuette.