Canada's Prime Minister Elect Justin Trudeau vowed in September during the election campaign to open a fresh competition to replace Canada's aging fighter jets, rather than continuing with the F-35 program. Justin Trudeau has also pledged to put a stop to his country's role in bombing Islamic State targets in strife-torn Syria, where the Australian air force recently commenced operations, as well as Iraq.The development of the F-35 has been dogged by controversy and claims it will not measure up against the latest Russian and Chinese fighter jets, although officials insist the plane is state-of-the-art.
On 16 July 2010, the Government of Canada under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced its intention to buy 65 F-35s to replace the Canadian Forces' existing 80 CF-18s.
| Buying 80 brand new F-18Fs, or the latest F-16v, would be the smarter buy for Canada. As the article notes Canada isn't spending on its military what other western countries do, per capita, and it doesn't figure to get better with Premier Skippy Trudeau. The military leaders need to conserve cash and find ways to fund the other things the Canadian military needs. |
The Liberal fiscal plan is to run short-term deficit of about C$10 billion for each of the first three years and then a balanced budget
Canada has an annual military budget of about C$20 billion. Canada has very little military even for a country of its economic size and population. Australia spends about A$32 billion (C$30 billion)and has 65% of the population of Canada. Canada spends less than half per capita on defense than Australia.