From the Toronto Sun – link to source story
Brian Lilley • Aug 23, 2021
Justin Trudeau is asking voters to give him a third electoral mandate, and he still hasn’t come close to fulfilling a major campaign promise from 2015 — choosing a different and cheaper fighter jet replacement.
Trudeau spent a lot of time during and before 2015 criticizing the Harper government’s decision to buy into the F-35 fighter program alongside allies such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
He declared it was too expensive, had technology Canada didn’t need and that we could get a better deal elsewhere.
“The primary mission of our fighter aircraft should remain the defence of North America, not stealth first-strike capability,” the 2015 Liberal platform read.
“We will reduce the procurement budget for replacing the CF-18s, and will instead purchase one of the many, lower-priced options that better match Canada’s defence needs.”
Had Trudeau stuck with the plan to buy the F-35s — a plan first started under the Chretien Liberals in the 1990s — we would already have new fighter jets.
So far, all Canada has received are some old Australian F/A-18s that we can use for spare parts on our existing aging jets.
The CF-18 fighter jet was introduced into service by the Royal Canadian Air Force in October 1982 when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister and Justin was a 10 year-old boy.
The jets are badly in need of replacement — the best we can hope for is seeing the government select a new jet by summer 2022 and a hopeful first delivery by 2025.
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