OTTAWA — Canada has quietly made another multimillion-dollar payment toward development of the F-35 stealth fighter despite uncertainty over whether it will buy the aircraft and calls from some prominent Canadians not to purchase any new fighter jets.
Canada made the annual payment to the U.S. military in the spring, spending US$71.7 million to remain a partner country in the F-35 project. Each partner is required to cover a portion of the plane’s multibillion-dollar development costs to stay at the table.
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Staying in the program has advantages, as partner countries get a discount when purchasing the jets and compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining them. The F-35 is being built by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin.
While the new payment brings Canada’s total investment in the F-35 to US$613 million since 1997, the government says Canadian companies have also secured more than US$2 billion in production and maintenance contracts related to the stealth fighter.
“Canada’s participation in the (F-35) program allows companies in Canada to benefit from contracts,” Department of National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier said in an email.
“Our latest payment … will continue to provide Canada with the option to buy the aircraft at a lower cost, and with priority access to the production line, should the F-35 be successful in the competitive process for the future fighter fleet.”
News of Canada’s latest payment follows Switzerland becoming the latest to select the F-35 as its next fighter jet despite not being a partner country. That decision, however, has been met with some criticism from left-wing parties in the country.
There have also been concerns in the U.S. after Congressional auditors found the F-35 could be too expensive for the American military to operate due to higher-than-anticipated operating and maintenance costs.
Ottawa is poised to announce later this year which fighter jet will replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet. The government is planning to buy 88 new planes at an estimated cost of up to $19 billion.
The F-35, which is built by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin, is competing against American rival Boeing’s Super Hornet and the Swedish-made Saab Gripen.
The pending decision has galvanized dozens of Canadian singers, authors, politicians and activists, including Neil Young, David Suzuki and Michael Ondaatje, to sign a statement calling on the government to cancel its plans to buy new fighter jets.
“The expensive weapons are largely useless in responding to natural disasters, providing international humanitarian relief or in peacekeeping operations,” the statement reads. “Nor can they protect us from a pandemic or the climate and other ecological crises.”
The signatories also argue fighter jets contribute to climate change, and that the real cost over the full life of the planes will come to nearly $77 billion — money that would be better spent on other priorities.
“Instead of purchasing 88 new fighter jets, let’s use these resources for health care, education, housing and clean water,” reads the statement organized by the No Fighter Jets campaign.
“At a time of health, social and climate crises, the Canadian government must prioritize a just recovery, green infrastructure and invest in Indigenous communities.”
The government has defended the need for fighter jets to protect Canada and North America, and to conduct military operations abroad. Experts have said not having fighter jets would leave the defence of Canadian airspace to the United States.
The Conservatives under Stephen Harper announced plans in 2010 to buy a fleet of F-35 fighter jets on an untendered contract, but aborted that plan in 2012 once the full price became known.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives first announced plans to buy 65 F-35s without a competition in 2010, but backed off that plan over questions about cost and concerns over the Defence Department’s tactics in getting government approval for the deal.
During the 2015 federal election campaign, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised they would immediately launch an open and fair competition to replace the CF-18s, but not buy the F-35 before allowing the stealth fighter to compete.
Defence Department procurement chief Troy Crosby told The Canadian Press in an interview earlier this month that the government remains on track to finish evaluating the three bids later this year, with a contract signed next year.
The first new aircraft is expected to arrive in 2025 and the last in 2032, when the CF-18s will be around 50 years old.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2021.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly reported that Neil Diamond signed a statement calling on the government not to buy fighter jets. In fact, Neil Young signed the statement.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
