Discussion · Government Orders
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Québécois
“None of our allies use a state-owned corporation to buy military equipment. The government claims this new corporation is independent, but that is not true. The minister will pick its board and tell it what to do.”
“Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague across the way to give me the information he has, because we have done some research, and to my knowledge, there is no NATO or Five Eyes member or western allied country that has a Crown corporation looking after its military procurement. I can see what is going on. The government would have us believe that this is independent, that this is apolitical, even though the corporation’s statutes and rules will state that it must do everything the minister orders and that the minister is the one who appoints the board of directors. That is not unusual. Defence is such a strategic issue that it makes sense to have some political oversight. I get the impression that there is some doublespeak. The government claims that this corporation is independent when it actually is not. It is trying to make us believe things that are not true. This is only natural; defence is so strategically important that it is necessary to take an interest in it.”
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Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague across the way to give me the information he has, because we have done some research, and to my knowledge, there is no NATO or Five Eyes member or western allied country that has a Crown corporation looking after its military procurement. I can see what is going on. The government would have us believe that this is independent, that this is apolitical, even though the corporation’s statutes and rules will state that it must do everything the minister orders and that the minister is the one who appoints the board of directors. That is not unusual. Defence is such a strategic issue that it makes sense to have some political oversight. I get the impression that there is some doublespeak. The government claims that this corporation is independent when it actually is not. It is trying to make us believe things that are not true. This is only natural; defence is so strategically important that it is necessary to take an interest in it.