Senator Boisvenu: Thank you, because I will give Senator Gold a lead.

Senator Gold, you know that Canada is in urgent need of warships and Polar-class icebreakers in the North.

We know that this is about jobs, but it’s also about Canadians’ ability to pay for these ships, so it’s very important that we get an estimate. Why, then, has the Parliamentary Budget Officer already provided an estimate of $7 billion for the construction of those ships?

My question is this: If the Parliamentary Budget Officer can publish the cost estimates of those two ships, why can’t the minister and the government do the same? Perhaps the minister could give the Parliamentary Budget Officer a call and he’d have the answer to her question.