Liberal Minority Government 2025 - ???

[Jarnhamar]

We only ordered 16. That's all we are locked into.

I thought we committed to 88.
Link

As outlined in Strong, Secure, Engaged, Canada has committed to purchase a new fleet of 88 advanced fighter jets for the RCAF, and today, the federal government announced that this new fleet will be comprised of F-35 jets. The first deliveries of these aircraft are anticipated to begin in 2026, and we anticipate that we will reach Full Operational Capability with our entire fleet between 2032 and 2034.

 

[Czech_pivo]

I thought we committed to 88.
Link

We are only the hook legally for the first 16, nothing past that, yet.

 

[Altair]

I thought we committed to 88.
Link

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f-35-canada-sweden-saab-9.6982139

Carney ordered a review of the purchase of F-35s manufactured by the American firm Lockheed Martin in March, in response to expansionist threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Canada is currently acquiring at least 16 F-35 aircraft, but has not committed to acquiring the full fleet of 88 aircraft that were ordered in 2023.

We said we were buying 88.

We have only ordered 16.

 

[Jarnhamar]

but maybe, just maybe, you can give the PM a little bit of credit instead of trying to credit the premiers for getting this done.

Now I know, I know, crediting Carney does go against the narrative that he does nothing...So clearly I ask for too much.

Does Carney deserve all the credit?

 

[Czech_pivo]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f-35-canada-sweden-saab-9.6982139

We said we were buying 88.

We have only ordered 16.

It’s the same thing with the RCD - we have paid only for the first 3, the other 12 we intend to purchase.

 

[Jarnhamar]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f-35-canada-sweden-saab-9.6982139

We said we were buying 88.

We have only ordered 16.

Sure. We committed to buying 88. We should honour our commitment.

 

[Altair]

Does Carney deserve all the credit?

I'm opposed to someone having to take all of the blame while getting none of the credit.

Does he deserve all of the credit? No. Many moving parts, many people needing to work together, many people deserve credit. But does Carney deserve a fair share? Yes. Most of these premiers have been on the job long before he came along and interprovincial trade didn't move one iota. Even when the tariff war with the USA began, premiers were not talking about this. Carney made it a priority and now, here we are, the most progress made on this file in generations.

 

[Jarnhamar]

We are only the hook legally for the first 16, nothing past that, yet.

Do you think we should only buy 16 of them then switch to Gripens?

 

[Altair]

Sure. We committed to buying 88. We should honour our commitment.

My wife commits to a lot of things as well, but if I piss her off, it turns out she doesn't need to do them.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Do you think we should only buy 16 of them then switch to Gripens?

No
I’m a believer of 88 or, it not possible 65+.

At the same time I’m willing to keep the SAAB connection open and see where the chips may land. But not without 65-88 F35’s as the mainstay of the RCAF.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Does he deserve all of the credit? No.

I agree. Carney shares the credit on this one so it's not a Carney-only laurel. I'm sure there's other great stuff out there that Carney deserves all the credit for.

 

[Altair]

I agree. Carney shares the credit on this one so it's not a Carney-only laurel. I'm sure there's other great stuff out there that Carney deserves all the credit for.

Sure.

I would name them but it's akin to screaming into the void.

 

[Altair]

Canada announces massive jump in funding to European Space Agency

Canada, seeking tighter ties with the European Union, will boost its investment in European Space Agency programs by C$528.5 million ($377.96 million), a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions, a top cabinet member said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

Canada, seeking tighter ties with the European Union, will boost its investment in European Space Agency programs by C$528.5 million ($377.96 million), a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions, a top cabinet member said on Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won an April election on the back of a promise to diversify the economy in the face of U.S. tariffs, is pressing for tighter defense and security relations with the EU.

Not related to SAAB but clearly showing which direction the PM is looking.

Between this and Eurovision, and the potential of a SAAB deal, Canada seems to be going all in on Europe.

 

[Quirky]

The amusing part is when this happens...your line of reasoning won't change.

Give me a reason to change, until then it’s all announcements and agreements.

 

[Altair]

Give me a reason to change, until then it’s all announcements and agreements.

I've played this game enough times Lucy.

 

[Maxman1]

Spain and Portugal cancelled the F35.

And Sweden's neighbour, Finland, now a NATO member, evaluated the Gripen and F-35 and picked the F-35, finding it was actually cheaper due to Saab massively underestimating the costs of the Gripen.

 

[Altair]

And Sweden's neighbour, Finland, now a NATO member, evaluated the Gripen and F-35 and picked the F-35, finding it was actually cheaper due to Saab massively underestimating the costs of the Gripen.

Does Finland need to deal with this?

Future of trade talks depends on Canada’s purchase of American fighter jets, U.S. ambassador says

Pete Hoekstra said it will not be easy to restart the now-stalled trade talks, and urged Canada to "harmonize" as much as possible with the U.S. on a range of

www.thestar.com

Pete Hoekstra told a conference hosted by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters on Wednesday that it will not be easy to restart the now-stalled trade talks, and urged Canada to “harmonize” as much as possible with the U.S. on a range of economic and military co-operation issues.

Hoekstra acknowledged a framework for free trade already exists in the form of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement , which is up for review next year, but when asked to describe how he sees the next iteration of that trade agreement shaping up, Hoekstra was characteristically blunt.

“Well, on a number of these issues, we are, we’re actually waiting to see exactly where the Canadian government is going to come out on this,” he said, pointing directly to the F-35 purchase review, and questioning what it means that Canada is shopping elsewhere for its fighter jets, and seeking to make its defence industrial base less reliant on the U.S.

Again, we have Sweden, actually treating Canada with respect.

On the other side, we have the Americans issuing yet another threat.

We as a country have been given a once in a generation opportunity to diversify away from the USA. It should not be squandered.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Canada announces massive jump in funding to European Space Agency

Canada, seeking tighter ties with the European Union, will boost its investment in European Space Agency programs by C$528.5 million ($377.96 million), a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions, a top cabinet member said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

Not related to SAAB but clearly showing which direction the PM is looking.

Between this and Eurovision, and the potential of a SAAB deal, Canada seems to be going all in on Europe.

He’s hedging his bets. It’s prudent.

The Eurovision angle is pure optics though, lol, it’s funny to read about it.

 

[ArmyRick]

Hey now, influence dollars don't spend themselves

What influence dollars? From who?

$0.003-0.005 per view, ~80k views per video, ~2 videos per day - Mr. Moose is making decent dough for saying the right things in the right outraged way, it's a perfect internet business in a box.

Dave has stated many times what got him started on commenting on politics. Are you aware of his personal story?

Yes he is making money from his content. If he has fans and followers so be it, thats good. If people don't like what he puts out, they stop following and stop watching, and he loses money. Where is the problem?

The CBC gets $1.4 billion dollars of TAX payers money without our consent as far as I am concerned, and they put out biased trash.

 

[brihard]

Does Finland need to deal with this?

Future of trade talks depends on Canada’s purchase of American fighter jets, U.S. ambassador says

Pete Hoekstra said it will not be easy to restart the now-stalled trade talks, and urged Canada to "harmonize" as much as possible with the U.S. on a range of

www.thestar.com

Again, we have Sweden, actually treating Canada with respect.

On the other side, we have the Americans issuing yet another threat.

We as a country have been given a once in a generation opportunity to diversify away from the USA. It should not be squandered.

And I’m sure Sweden will very respectfully sell us a fighter that will do fine for some of our less intensive fast jet missions, but that stands to quickly get our pilots killed if we get into a real scrap with a technological peer, or simply needs to put jets overhead into contested airspace- say, to support our soldiers on the ground who are defending against a Russian push west.

Does Canada have a use case that the gripe would satisfy? As best as this infantry/cop idiot can tell, I think so. But that’s not all of what we need and I see nothing out there except F-35 that can give Canada critically needed capabilities on a reasonable timeline. And a token squadron of 16 won’t cut it.

Part of asserting our sovereignty is standing up to trade bullying. Another part of asserting our sovereignty is showing our allies a credible military capability that can kill people and break there shit in defence of the national interest under the lawful direction of the civil authority. If we’re going to do that latter, let’s do it without our pilots getting snuffed out quite as readily if we land in major combat operations.