F-35 Purchase
The government of Canada has finalized its deal to purchase 88 F-35A fighter jets to replace its fleet of outdated CF-18 Hornets.
The Conservatives advanced a plan to buy F-35s under the government of Stephen Harper starting in 2006. Startlingly, in March 2022, seven years after vowing in a 2015 campaign pledge not to purchase F-35 jets (cancelling all the multi-hundreds of million dollar aerospace industry development work led by the Harper Conservatives), the Liberals announced they are now buying 88 of them. Almost 14 years ago we were all told by the Department of National Defence this was the only plane that fit our needs as a next generation fighter aircraft. The Harper Conservatives announced an order of 65 F-35s in 2010. That should have been the end of it.
All the lessons of past Liberal-led procurement disasters should have told everyone with any serious aspirations of national leadership that reversing that contract could cripple an air force that was already flying planes past their best-before date. Instead we got 5 years of Liberal hand-wringing that put on display the worst of Ottawa's ability to talk only to itself. The Harper government was stung by criticism over the cost and accusations it had rushed to sole-source the deal.
From the start, Conservatives have been steadfast in pressing the government to quickly replace Canada’s CF-18 fighter jets. Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau said he would NEVER buy the F-35s.
After years of wasted time, the Liberals have come to the same conclusion of the previous Conservative government concerning the model of choice. But first they wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars buying old rusted-out F-18s from Australia to go with our own worn-out CF-18s.
The fact of the matter is that Justin Trudeau chose to play politics instead of providing our military with the equipment it requires.
The Liberals' failure on the CF-18 fighter jet replacement caused the Liberal government to voluntarily withdraw the RCAF from participating in NATO air policing operations in Eastern Europe for the first time.
As the world is gripped with Russian aggression, it is more important than ever for our military to have the equipment it needs to protect our vast borders and support our NATO allies.
Conservatives are the only party that will stand up for our men and women in uniform and ensure that they have the necessary equipment to protect our country.
