It has occured to me that many Canadians are not sure why the government came down when it did. The response I most frequently hear is that the opposition defeated the minority over the budget. That is technically true yes. On one hand, yes the opposition defeated the minority Conservative government over quibbles about the budget. On a much more important sense, the opposition defeated the minority government not because it had major issue with the numbers, but with the spirit of those numbers, and the intention of those numbers.
The government fell last month because the opposition parties all agreed that the Conservative government was in contempt of parliament.
Think about that statement for a moment. The opposition members felt strongly that the government itself, was lying, obfuscating, or deliberately misrepresenting data to the Canadian people, in order to push it's own agenda. Were they? That's not really for me to say as a member of the citizenry, that's a direct inquiry for a judiciary body. I can only speculate, at best, on the information and research I myself have come up with. However since my last post about the F-35 Lightning planes, where I indicated that the numbers we were getting were not representative of all the data, the U.S. Pentagon has corroborated similar numbers, that the F-35 Project is wildly spiraling out of control in terms of cost.
Americans, for the number of jets they intend to purchase, speculated initially that the initiatve would cost approximately 382 Billion dollars. They have now revised that figure, that the cost of maintaining these jets for a 30 year life cycle, would be 918 Billion. More than twice the cost. The increase is considered comperable to the Canadian situation. Initially projected in 2001 at 75 million dollars an aircraft, that number, including it's maintenance for 30 years looks more like 375 million dollars.
Conservatives have unilaterally rejected the new numbers. Citing that we are in these comparisons, comparing 'apples' to 'oranges'. But if we factor in the numbers, the Conservatives have cited only 7 billion dollars for maintenance and service upgrades to the planes, over their 30 year lifespan. Kevin Page, the Parliamentry Budget Officer said the number should be more like 19.5 billion, but was derided with criticism from the party. The Pentagon speculative number is 24 billion.
No one seems to be able to corroborate the figures the Conservatives use, that is the problem. Their number appears to have been pulled out of thin air, or the 75 million per aircraft, which we now understand is a figure that is ten years old! If the numbers exist, if Canada has ink on a contract, why can't we, the people, who are paying for this ridiculousness see what we bought?
Edit: It has been pointed out to me that comparing the 'American F-35' to the 'Canadian F-35' is not similar. This is technically true. The majority of American F-35s are an F-35C class Variant, the C designation notes that it has a specific design in mind for use with Naval Carriers. Of which is one of the major sources of American Military power, and we in Canada have no Carriers. The Canadian Variant is the F-35A, outfitted with a drag chute (for slowing down on icy runways). It is still priced comprehensively similarly to the other variants. Only the F-35B, which is modified to have less fuel and a short takeoff system (similar to a harrier jet) is noted as having a different price, due to the engine differences.
Also, separately of note, is that Wikipedia has exposed information that IP addresses tracing back to the Winnipeg 1st Canadian Air Division attempted to remove critical information from the online wiki and add derogatory comments and insults to opposition party members. This happened last year, July 28th, 2010. Since then, perpetrators of this crime have not been named, and no disciplinary action has been disclosed.
CBC Article on Department of National Defence citing rising costs of F35s
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/25/cv-election-f35s-costs.html
CBC Article on Harper's Denial
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/26/cv-election-f-35-costs-316.html
MacLean's on the F-35 Cost, Where an interesting discussion is beginning to take place:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/26/how-much-is-that-fighter-jet-in-the-window/
Wikipedia Article on the F-35 Procurement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II_Canadian_procurement
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