To the Editor:
The fiscal incompetence and complete mismanagement of Canada’s largest military procurement since World War II has now been fully exposed. The Conservative Party needs to be held accountable for their total mishandling of the F-35.
Two years ago they told Canadians that the government would replace our aging fleet of CF-18s with a sole-sourced contract for F-35s for only $9 billion - now thanks to an audit from KPMG we know the true cost of the F-35s will exceed $46 billion. The government said the F-35 was the only plane that could meet our needs - now they admit that other planes could. They always maintained that considering other options was irresponsible and they sole-sourced the contract—now they are looking at other planes. They said there was a contract - now they don’t.
This is how an incompetent government turns a $13 billion Liberal surplus in 2006 into a $142 billion accumulated Conservative deficit by 2012.
The government lied, stonewalled, broke all the rules of procurement, evaded every safeguard, and attacked the credibility and patriotism of all those who dared challenge it. It asked voters to re-elect it using fraudulent numbers.
The Conservatives need to stop the cheerleading and start asking serious questions about how the government is spending your hard-earned tax dollars. They can’t serve Canadians with blinders on.
Yours sincerely,
John McKay, MP
Liberal Party of Canada Defence Critic