$1:
Canada has contributed $168 million toward perfecting the high-tech F-35 fighter and is committed to spending a total of $551 million over the liftetime of the aircraft.
The agreement has netted Canadian defence contractors $850 million in research and production deals, which have just started to gear up. Ross testified those contracts would continue, but would eventually peter out with nothing to replace them.
That's the reason the Liberals signed up for the program in the first place - industrial offsets, which makes total sense to me.
I still think that a competition could have been held. If we are really behind the 8-ball to buy the JSF, load the requirements (make stealth, interoperability, etc key requirements)so that that Typhoon doesn't meet the minimum requirements.
Not transparent, but it would probably satisfy most people until the next 'issue/crisis' comes along. Sure it'd be dirty pool, but which party hasn't done stuff like that before?
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