General Rick Hillier, retired Commander of the Canadian Forces, referred to the neglect given the Canadian Forces by the former Liberal government as the “Decade of Darkness”.  When our Conservative government was elected in 2006, in tandem with the Canadian Forces, we tabled the ‘Canada First Defence Strategy’, a detailed road-map for the modernization of the Canadian Forces. The vision included the re-equipment of the CF, increasing CF personnel levels, and scoping deployment criteria with a focus on Canada’s Arctic.  

In the early 1990s the government of Canada was set to replace the aging “Sea King” fleet of helicopters but the Liberal government cancelled the contract costing taxpayers over $500M. Because of this short-sighted decision, we now find ourselves in a position where the replacement of the 40 year old fleet of “Sea Kings” has risen by billions of dollars. Our Harper government has proven that we are a government of action and we are moving forward with the procurement of the much needed fleet.  Yes, when compared to the 1990s, we are spending more money, but the longer we wait, the higher the price tag will be.  Our Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Peter MacKay, has led the way on much of the procurement oversight and we need to trust him in doing so.

Unfortunately, due to years of inaction, our CF-18 Fighter Jets are now 28 years old and will be 38 years old when they are finally retired.   In 1997 the former Liberal government agreed with our allies that a united effort should be taken to develop the next generation fighter. The service requirements of this new aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter, were scoped and a competition was held between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to see who would build the aircraft.   Lockheed Martin won and is the only supplier of the F-35 Lightning II.  Canada committed $150M to help in the development of this fighter with the understanding that we would want to acquire the aircraft.  In July, our government committed to buying 65 F-35s over a period from 2015 to 2030 at a cost of $9B (for aircraft, simulators, training, infrastructure, initial spares) with an additional $7B for 20 years of support services.  Under the multinational MOU, Canadian aerospace companies also have the opportunity to win contracts for many aspects of the assembly and support of the aircraft.   As Norway, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, the United States of America, and Israel all agreed to purchase the F-35 it is estimated the value of the contracts to the Canadian Aerospace industry will be in the range of $12B. 

In these economic times the costs are huge but we need to make the decision now and move forward. The real question is: Do we want to continue with the Canadian Forces?  If the answer is ‘yes’ then we need to equip our Forces to enable them to do their jobs.  In light of our two CF-18s escorting the United Air Emirates flight to JFK this week, I would say that we need to be vigilant. We cannot continue the former governments’ lack of responsibility by deploying men and women of the Canadian Forces into danger without the equipment to protect themselves and the people they are serving.

There will always be second guessing by couch quarterbacks but the ones making the decisions must be given our trust as they weigh their choices while keeping in mind the best interests of all Canadians.

MP Colin Mayes
Okanagan-Shuswap