10 mai 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
OTTAWA, ON (May 6, 2019): In a hard-hitting new Macdonald-Laurier Institute report, MLI Senior Fellow Richard Shimooka takes a critical look at the government's approach to replacing Canada's aging fleet of CF-18 fighters. In the report, titled The Catastrophe: Assessing the Damage from Canada's Fighter Replacement Fiasco, he argues that Ottawa's performance on this file mirrors the SNC-Lavalin Scandal and the Mark Norman Affair.
“At their heart, these two incidents represent attempts by the Liberal government to circumvent established processes to meet their partisan interests,” Shimooka explains. “This description is just as apt for the fighter program.”
Canada is a participant in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program that has been developing the F-35s. These fighter jets were slotted to replace the RCAF's aging CF-18s, but after the program was mired in political scandal under the previous government, the Liberal government changed plans.
“During the 2015 election campaign, the Liberal Party promised not to buy the F-35 jets, but instead to use a competition to identify and subsequently purchase a lower-cost competitor... this decision proved to be impossible, unethical, and potentially illegal,” writes Shimooka.
From billions of dollars being wasted on a procurement process to fix a contrived capability gap to potentially threatening Canada's defence relationship with the US, the report finds that political interests have consistently been put above Canada's defence needs.
Shimooka argues that “the decisions made [regarding fighter jet replacement] were purely for reasons of political interest: not a single one could be claimed as being in the country's national interest.”
The “fiasco,” as Shimooka describes it, has caught the attention of both Canada's Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and senior US officials. According to documents never before seen by the public, the OAG had specifically cautioned the government against its chosen course of purchasing Australian Hornets as an interim measure in a draft report – and the final OAG report was heavily revised to obscure that recommendation.
Worse still, letters from US officials reveal that “resentment and distrust towards the government of Canada had grown, particularly within the US Air Force.” These letters, which again have not been made public until now, outline the significant strategic and economic benefits that have already been accrued from being part of the JSF Program. Yet they also contain an implicit (but clear) threat that Canada could be kicked out of the Program – if Ottawa continues with its current policy of trying to obtain guaranteed industrial benefits that, by their very nature, are not allowed under the JSF Program.
“There was a complete lack of logic of Canada's policy, which seemed to ignore basic facts about membership in the JSF program, including clear advantages in cost and capability that the F-35 provided.”
Despite these persistent, high-level issues with the government's chosen approach on the fighter jet replacement, the file has avoided serious public scrutiny. Shimooka finds that this happened in large part due to the successful gag orders levelled by the government.
“The government has also suppressed negative viewpoints within and outside the Department of National Defence, allegedly up to and including the deletion of portions of Memos to Cabinet that highlighted why certain decisions should not be taken.”
Moving forward on the file may prove to be difficult; defence procurement woes have plagued Canada since Confederation, and the issues with the fighter jet replacement are deeper than just purchasing the right aircraft. Worse still, Shimooka says that the brunt of the burden of consistently poor decision-making in Ottawa will be borne by the RCAF itself.
“While the negative consequences are clear for Canada as a whole," Shimooka explains, "no community has felt the impact more than the RCAF. As a result of this government's policies, its ability to conduct its most basic function, the defence of Canadian sovereignty and that of our allies, is diminishing rapidly.”
“It is a sad state of affairs.”
To read the commentary in full, click here.
https://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/assessing-damage-canadas-fighter-replacement-fiasco-new-mli-report/
18 septembre 2023 | Local, Terrestre
The 16th edition of Canada Army Run, presented by BMO, brought together thousands of runners and supporters to the streets of Ottawa.
29 octobre 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Chers collègues et partenaires du milieu de la défense, En tant que gestionnaire par intérim du BEPS, je tenais communiquer avec vous pour partager le texte du discours d'ouverture prononcé par le chef d'état-major par intérim, le général Wayne Eyre à la Conférence de Kingston sur la sécurité internationale. Je suis conscient que certains ont probablement assisté à la conférence, mais je crois qu'une version écrite peut être une référence utile. La conférence, EN CAS D'URGENCE : Le rôle des militaires dans la pandémie et les crises futures a eu lieu cette semaine. Conférence de Kingston sur la sécurité internationale Comme toujours, nous vous remercions de votre collaboration. (Veuillez noter que le discours est bilingue et n'a pas été entièrement traduit dans l'une ou l'autre des langues officielles.) Cordialement, ***** Dear colleagues and partners in defence, As the acting manager for the Strategic Engagement Office, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the opening address given by the Acting Chief of Staff, General Wayne Eyre at the Kingston Conference on International Security. I'm conscious of the fact that many of you probably attended but a written version of the address may be interesting as a reference. The conference, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: The Military's Role in the Pandemic & Future Crises, was held this week. Kingston Conference on International Security As always, we thank you for your collaboration.
25 juillet 2019 | Local, Naval
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (NNS) -- Members of Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet staff and the U.S Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command joined Canadian Armed Forces' Joint Task Force Atlantic for the 2019 Tri-Party Staff Talks at Canadian Armed Forces Base Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 18-20. This year's staff talks culminated with Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet (C2F) taking the lead role for the staff talks, as well as Frontier Sentinal, the yearly exercise conducted by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and Royal Canadian Navy. The tri-party rotates acting as the lead for the exercise every two years. Until the reestablishment of C2F in 2018, U.S. Fleet Forces command represented the U.S. Navy in the cohort. The talks evaluated the joint organizations' ability to conduct inter-organizational communications at the operational and tactical levels, achieve and maintain shared maritime domain awareness, and conduct collaborative operational planning. All groups will be required to identify any problems, considerations, constraints, and restraints they are likely to encounter within this scenario. Honing these skills is increasingly important as U.S. 2nd Fleet steps into the role previously occupied by U.S. Fleet Forces Command. “I consider our tri-party relationship to be foundational to 2nd Fleets ability to effectively operate,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander U.S. 2nd Fleet. “We need to be seamless in scenario in order to effectively work together in real world operations. We must transcend interoperability to complete integration between our organizations.” Frontier Sentinel is an annual exercise between all three organizations that serves as the cornerstone for validating the interoperability of the tri-party commands and tactical assets, highlighting challenges to interoperability and identifying solutions. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110346&utm_source=phplist3026&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Headlines