Discussion · Government Orders
David McGuinty Liberal
“This new defence corporation will answer directly to Parliament. Committees can question its leaders at any time. It will also help us make defence deals much faster, like cutting the submarine buying process from five years down to 20 months.”
“Mr. Speaker, what the member is referring to is overall accountability and, for that matter, also compellability. The CEO of this Crown corporation could be brought before committee at any time. The board could be convened at any time. There would be opportunities to put tough, difficult and probative questions to them. There is no off-ramp with respect to the creation of the Crown in terms of accountability to Parliament. On the contrary, what it would do is make this body more fleet-footed, more focused, more commercial and more able to negotiate better deals more quickly. We have seen that most recently with the example of the forthcoming acquisition of the fleet of new submarines. A process that normally would have taken five years was in fact, hopefully with a completed contract soon to come, completed within 20 months.”
Mr. Speaker, what the member is referring to is overall accountability and, for that matter, also compellability. The CEO of this Crown corporation could be brought before committee at any time. The board could be convened at any time. There would be opportunities to put tough, difficult and probative questions to them. There is no off-ramp with respect to the creation of the Crown in terms of accountability to Parliament. On the contrary, what it would do is make this body more fleet-footed, more focused, more commercial and more able to negotiate better deals more quickly. We have seen that most recently with the example of the forthcoming acquisition of the fleet of new submarines. A process that normally would have taken five years was in fact, hopefully with a completed contract soon to come, completed within 20 months.