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Scott Taylor: The F-35 and the politics of procurement

Take the 16 already contracted and scrap the deal for the remainder

On June 15, the CBC ran a news item by reporter David Common entitled “What Canada’s fighter jet decision could mean for NORAD.”

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Common and his camera crew made the trek to NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The leading premise of the story was that the Pentagon is losing patience with their Canadian counterparts. Provided to Common on background was the statement, “The Canadian government’s delays and lack of transparency around the ongoing F-35 review are just one example of politics over our shared responsibility for North America’s defence.”

Here is a summary of the F-35 purchase saga to date. Realizing that the Royal Canadian Air Force would eventually need to replace the fleet of CF-18 aircraft, the F-35 was considered a frontrunner while it was still on the drawing board back in 1997.

That’s correct, folks: this cutting-edge fifth-generation aircraft design is already 30 years old.

In 2010, the Stephen Harper Conservative government announced they would buy 66 F-35s. However, due to cost overruns and teething troubles with the aircraft, the government had no choice but to push the reset button on the purchase.

In 2015, the Justin Trudeau Liberals ran on a campaign promise that if........

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