Harper must be held accountable for procurement fiascos

Defence Minister misled Canadians about cost of new jets, mismanaged submarines

OTTAWA – Despite spending the weekend making up new excuses about his mishandling of fighter jet procurement, it’s clear that Defence Minister Peter MacKay was aware two years ago of the true cost of the new F-35s but chose to keep Canadians in the dark, according to the NDP’s Military Procurement critics.

New reports out this weekend are also highlighting the Conservatives failure to manage Canada’s submarine program responsibly. The subs were acquired second-hand for $750 million but have run into a never-ending series of problems and rising costs.

“Canadians and our military can’t trust the Conservatives and their predecessors who signed mediocre supply contracts – and then continue to mismanage the submarines and now the F-35s,” said NDP MP Christine Moore (Abitibi-Témiscamingue). “Major military procurement must provide good value for taxpayers while giving our military the equipment it needs. The Conservative government has failed on both counts.”

The NDP is demanding that the government proceed with a fair and transparent process for replacing the CF-18s. This includes ensuring better oversight on these multi-billion dollar purchases.

“The Defence Minister knew the F-35’s would cost almost twice as much as initially planned and he still continued to repeat misleading costs for months,” said NDP MP, Matthew Kellway (Beaches-East York). “To make matters worse, he has refused to take responsibility for his misleading statements and refused to apologize to Canadians.”