Associate Defence Minister Fantino found himself being questioned (once again) in the Commons about the F-35 purchase, with opposition MPs mentioning the report from Michael Byers that appeared in the new issue of the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal.
Fantino dismissed the report, saying that it came from Byers who he said was not only a leftist but also a failed NDP candidate. As well, the report was done in conjunction with the Rideau Institute, and Fantino said everyone knows they are leftists as well.
The NDP’s Matthew Kellway pointed out that the Byers report outlines the large number of technical problems with the F-35 (which by the way were originally raised by the Pentagon and U.S. officials). After all, he said, the Canadian government just found only last month that the F-35 can operate at night since that was when it conducted its first night flight. The Byers report, said Kellway, drives home the fact that the F-35 is a troubled and expensive program.
Not so, retorted Fantino, one of the biggest supporters of the F-35 purchase in the Harper government.
“The member opposite is referring to a failed NDP candidate who wrote this report, critical of everything that is holy and decent about this government’s efforts to provide our military men and women with the resources,” Fantino responded.
Kellway had his own take on Fantino’s comments. “It’s on a wing and a prayer that they’re moving forward on the F-35,” he said. “There’s no reasonable grounds, there’s no evidence available to suggest that this is the right plane, which is why we’re proposing that they put it out to tender, to determine what the right plane is.”
Below a photo of the F-35, an aircraft sent from heaven?
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen
Author: David Pugliese
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