What appears to have happened is that before the July 2010 F-35 announcement by the current government, there was a DND estimate that the F-35 program would cost $25B (including 20 years of maintenance) if Canada went through with it.
After the government announced the decision for the F-35, the $16B figure was claimed by the DND (and even published on their website). In 2011, the DND stated $14.7B in response to a report done by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page.
The report by Page was much higher than any DND estimate and was attacked by the F-35 fan-base. As it turns out--given the huge cost rise in the F-35 program--Page is probably closer on the numbers. The AG agrees.
The current government's defense is,"we haven't signed a contract yet!". True. It is the untruthful language leading up to that decision that is the problem.
Parliament will likely respond to this fraud by pulling DND's authority to procure a CF-18 replacement. A good move because DND has proven they can't be trusted with what could be the most expensive Canadian military procurement in history. DND (and the current government) went native to Lockheed Martin fairy tales. What happens to the careers of people involved in this lie to parliament is yet to be seen.
*** UPDATE- Alan Williams has some good comments in this CBC video.
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2 comments:
This story and others are all becoming all too familiar. Lying, misleading, hold back the facts have been the way and the excuse has been for the "greater good".
We've seen it in finance, defense and it's become an endemic way of life. True accountability is just a mirage on the horizon while lobbying and contractors line their pockets with taxpayer funds.
Still lots of excuses coming out of the Govt mouthpieces. The larger issue of the F-35 being junk still has to get dealt with. It's a shame that much of this may have come from a culture in the DND that says "this is the plane we want", based on a marketing brochure rather than actual operational performance.
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