Cabinet knew?

The Auditor General appeared before the public accounts committee this morning. Afterwards, he was pressed to specify who was aware of the defence department’s estimate that the F-35 would cost $25 billion.

"I can’t speak to individuals who knew it, but it was information that was prepared by National Defence," Ferguson said Thursday, "and it’s certainly my understanding that that would have been information that, yes, the government would have had."

 Ferguson was clear that by government, he was referring to the executive, namely cabinet and other members of the Conservative government, not the bureaucracy. "That $25 billion number was something I think that at that time was known to government," he said. "It would have been primarily members of the executive, yes."