Auditor General Michael Ferguson has told parliament that the F-35 program promoted by the Harper Conservatives will cost $10 billion more than the amount claimed by Harper and his ministers. As usual, the auditor is the last to learn the truth. The only problem is that the auditor general has no way of knowing that the F-35 is the wrong type of aircraft for Canada’s armed forces.
Mr. Ferguson was well aware of the fact that the government was lying about the F-35 costs and questionable delivery dates. He was quite scathing of the unnamed officials of the Department of National Defence who supposedly provided the miss-information that the government used to defend the program. The auditor also said that Harper and some of his cabinet had to know about the real costs before the 2011 election.
For the opposition in parliament, this is one of those opportunities to demand—and get—the resignation of the cabinet minister involved. This could even be a “Twofer,” an opportunity to get two ministers at once. Peter MacKay and Julian Fantino shared the glory of the program. They can share the blame.
But we are being had in the process. We should realize that Mr. Harper has had an advance copy of the auditor general’s report. The Prime Minister and his minions have had plenty of time to devise a strategy to sweep everything under the rug. He was almost smirking when he rose in the House of Commons to tell us that he takes the report very seriously and he is taking the acquisition of the F-35s out of the hands of the national defence people, freezing the budget (we wonder which one?) and handing the procurement over to a new secretariat from Public Works and Government Services.
If you thought the defence people were screwed up, wait until this new secretariat gets going! How the hell would a secretariat from those departments of the federal government—the people being fired because there are too many—know a damn thing about fighter aircraft worth more than $100 million each. This is not only sad but a travesty. What are they going to do to fix things? The problems are between the American Pentagon and American manufacturer Lockheed Martin. No Canadian is going to get a look-see at what the design faults are in that aircraft. And what Public Works or Government Services know about aircraft is not worth discussing anyway.
Mr. Harper is having us on! And he is making Thomas Mulcair and Bob Rae look like idiots. They are screaming for the head of Peter MacKay. What are they going to do with it? Are they going to hang it over a mantel somewhere?
The key words were in the Auditor General’s report. The auditor said the entire process was flawed. He said there was no consideration given to alternative aircraft. That means we have to start over!
The Tories were buying the Joint Strike F-35 to fly with the Americans in their wars. The aircraft is useless for Canada’s defence and patrol needs. Mr. Harper and his friends do not care about Canadian needs!
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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