"Madam Speaker, when it comes to military spending, there are different aspects, one of which is making sure that maintenance dollars are made available as well.
The Liberals have continued the expensive trend of contracting out the work to repair Canadian ships and planes, resulting in greater expenses to the military and to Canadians. Does the member believe that in order for Canada to ensure it is getting the greatest value for its money, we should be ensuring the qualified personnel in our armed forces do this work instead of contracting it out?"
John McKay (Liberal) Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
"Madam Speaker, I am agnostic as to whether it should be personnel within the CAF or exterior personnel. Some of this equipment is highly sophisticated, and we simply cannot keep people in the military to fix a particular part of a particular plane, so there are times when contracting out makes more sense than actually having a full-time employee or employees look after that particular equipment. This is very sophisticated equipment, so I leave that decision ultimately to the officers involved."
