Two years ago he told us that he was pressing the "reset button" on his plan to buy 65 F-35 fighters from his friends at Lockheed Martin, after it was revealed that their cost would blow Canada up instead of the enemy. He promised us his corrupt regime would look at other slightly cheaper warplanes, and hold an open competition. But it seems that nothing can shake Stephen Harper's insane obsession with the F-35, even though with only one engine it's totally unsuitable for patrolling Canada's vast Arctic spaces. And today we found out that he has secretly ordered four of them.
Well mad King Harper, he of the reverse Midas touch, may still covet his golden toy, as it slowly turns into a steaming cow pie. I want it. I MUST have it !! I WILL have it !! I'm the f***ing King of Canada !!!!#@!! But sadly for him most sane Canadians, and most in the MSM, know a debacle when they see one.
Holy Mayan prophesy. I think I now know how the Con regime is going to end eh? Not with a bang but a whimper. With acts of sheer folly, and howls of laughter. For there was Stephen Harper today, in the Con circus that was once our Parliament, accusing the NDP of being a "gong show."
I always knew that sooner or later Dumbo MacKay would hit the eject button by mistake, fly into the air, and blame the whole darn cabinet.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay says cabinet ultimately signed off on the figures the Defence Department cited publicly for the cost of the F-35 stealth fighter program.
The Conservative government has admitted it was aware of the larger price tag weeks before the last federal election, but MacKay's comments are the first acknowledgment cabinet approved the reporting of a lower figure to Canadians.
Golly. I see Peter MacKay was in the hot seat again today. Claiming he's smart enough to keep those fancy jets from costing us an arm and a leg. And failing miserably.
When questioned by reporters Tuesday, MacKay cited segments of Ferguson's report that he said showed Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page had also left operating costs out of his accounting on the F-35s.
But MacKay was actually citing the Department of National Defence's own accounting in the auditor general's report, not Page's. DND took out the operating costs for its lower estimate, while Page included them in his own $14-billion figure.
Gawd. Now can we call him Bobo?
Yes. But don't laugh too loudly, because now we finally know why the Cons want those jets soooooo badly. It's not to defend us from the Russians, it's for when we go to war with China.
Now that it appears the Harper Cons are going to buy more of these F-35 fighters than Britain.
Future prospects for the F-35 joint strike fighter program got a lot murkier Tuesday after British government officials announced plans to delay and dramatically trim their purchases of the warplane from Lockheed Martin.
Even though they are way too expensive, we don't really need them. The only reason the Cons want to spend so much money is so they can pump up the deficit, and use it as an excuse to kill medicare.
The 2006 agreement for developing the controversial F-35 stealth fighter jets contains a withdrawal clause that would allow a new government to end Canada's participation with no penalties and appears to contradict the government's claim that Canadian firms involved up to now would suffer.
Maybe it's time to seriously consider other options. And other planes.
The most likely avenue of attack from the air on Canada today is not from a lumbering Bear bomber, but rather a small privately owned commercial aircraft. The American Norad commander, Admiral James Winnefeld, recently called for aircraft that can fly "low and slow" in order to counter this threat; "F-16s don't fly slow very well," he said. The same could be said of the F-35.
A turboprop aircraft like Embraer's "Super Tucano" or Beechcraft's AT-6B (whose engines are manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada in Nova Scotia) would easily fit this bill. At roughly $6-million per copy, we could outfit the air force with 10 times the number of airframes.
Just months before the Harper government announced it would spend an estimated $16-billion on new fighter jets, a report for the Defence Department recommended using “flocking” pilot-less drones to enforce Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
And BTW, if anyone thinks that pilotless aircraft are not the future of military aviation.
They really should take a look at these nifty robots...
I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
Forget those old fashioned F35s. Send the Cons to the cleaners.
