John Ivison: Carney now has billions of reasons to buy fighter planes other than F-35s
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Key to this transformation are moves to strengthen the Canadian defence industry and to diversify defence partnerships away from the United States, where Canada spends 75 per cent of its capital budget.
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Carney didn't mention the F-35 fighter jet contract but in March he ordered a review to look at whether the order to buy 88 fifth-generation planes is the best investment for Canada.
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The results of that review are expected this summer, and if the government is minded to cancel the remainder of the contract (it is legally obliged to take the first 16 jets), the auditor general's office has just given it a good excuse.
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The AG's latest report suggests that the F-35s will not be delivered on time or on budget — which is, perhaps, as predictable as death, or Donald Trump turning on his closest confidants.
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But the findings will prove maddening to a prime minister who has promised to build big things, from concept to completion, in short order.
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The AG's report suggests that the Department of National Defence should have known sooner that costs were considerably higher than had been made public. It probably did, but it has wanted to buy this aircraft for two decades and didn't want nosy busybodies like the taxpayer intruding in the process.
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The Trudeau government finalized arrangements to buy 88 F-35s in December 2022 (having initially cancelled the project in 2015).
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Projected purchase costs at the time were $19 billion.
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But the Department of National Defence's own numbers suggest that, by 2024, inflation, fluctuating exchange rates and rising facilities costs had increased the cost to $27.7 billion.
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The AG's team calculated that another $5.5 billion can be added to that number to cover infrastructure upgrades and advanced weapons, taking the new bill to over $33 billion.
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Delivery will start next year, with the first eight being sent to Luke Air Force base in Arizona for pilot training. The rest will be sent to Canada to form fighter squadrons at Cold Lake, Alta., and Bagotville, Que.
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