Canada Won’t Commit to Competition for New Fighter

Trudeau Refuses to Commit to Open Competition to Replace Canada’s Aging CF-18 Fighter Jets (excerpt)

OTTAWA --- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to say on Wednesday whether his government will hold an open competition to replace Canada’s CF-18 fighter jets — despite having made it one of his key election promises.

The Liberals said during last year’s election that they would hold a competition for new jets but not buy the F-35 if they formed government. During a press conference to mark the rise of Parliament for the summer, Trudeau was asked for an update on those two commitments.

Canadians expect the Liberal government to provide the equipment the Canadian Armed Forces need to keep the country safe and fulfill Canada’s international commitments with “the right process and at the right price,” Trudeau told reporters.

Military procurement has been “significantly messy over the last few years,” he added, and the government is working “extremely hard to ensure that we deliver to our Canadian forces the jets they need in a responsible and in the right way.”

Asked if that meant there would not be a competition, Trudeau repeated: “We are working very, very hard and thoughtfully to ensure that we deliver to our forces the right jets the right way at the right price. That’s what Canadians expect of us, and that’s what we are going to be doing.” (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the National Post website.

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