Conservative boondoggle: $16 billion fighter jets

The Mark:

Slamming the proposed purchase of the jets in Parliament yesterday, Michael Ignatieff said the Conservatives “were sent out to buy a Chevrolet and they brought back a Ferrari.” Why’d they do it? Because the Department of National Defence really, really wants a Ferrari. Industry Minister Tony Clement admitted yesterday he’s not an expert on jets, but he’s been told by the military these are the ones he should procure.

Bad idea, says the National Post’s John Ivison. As the auditor general’s report released Tuesday on the bungled purchase of helicopters revealed, “allowing the Department of National Defence to dictate procurement is like asking an alcoholic to run a distillery.” Ivison argues, “For their own sake, the Conservatives need to press pause on the largest military purchase in Canadian history,” and suggests they could get themselves out of hot water by forming an expert panel to either legitimize the purchase, or give them an excuse to cancel it.

Maclean’s blogger John Geddes gets into the nitty-gritty details of the deal in his column, and says although some critics have warned the cost of manufacturing the jets could skyrocket, Canada has a deal in place with the U.S. to ensure we’re not on the hook for rising manufacturing costs. The real problem is that we’ve agreed to pay “the average per unit flyaway cost. That means our price depends on how many F-35s in total are sold.” This is trouble, because the cash-strapped British government announced last week it is drastically reducing the number of F-35s it will buy.

The jet fighter contract “has all the makings of a red-hot campaign issue,” writes the Vancouver Sun’s Barbara Yaffe. It echoes Jean Chretien’s promise to cancel the EH-101 helicopter contract in 1993, “believed to be a significant factor in the Liberals' majority government win.” Just as Canadians were then, we’re now facing a huge deficit and the “Liberals are counting on their belief that Canadians favour social programs over military spending, while Harper's team is hoping voters have shifted ideologically since the '90s and, these days, want a more robust, state-of-the-art military.”

Michael Ignatieff had previously been critical of the deal but until yesterday had avoided taking a firm stance on the purchase of the state-of-the-art planes. His change in stance was prompted by comments on Tuesday from Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who called the F-35 deal high-risk. The contract is the largest military procurement in Canadian history and was not put through a competitive bidding process. Fraser also slammed the government’s purchase of military helicopters and it appears the Liberal leader believes he can use her comments to attack Conservatives’ claims to being Canada’s most fiscally responsible party. Many analysts say the cost of the jets is likely to increase and that the planes are inappropriate for Canada’s security needs.