Trudeau in 2015 vowed to scrap the F-35. There wasn’t an order with Harper just intent. Trudeau canceled nothing. They played this numbers game to delay buying anything. The numbers changed from 65 to 88. Talk of getting Super Hornets as an interim to bump the numbers. I think Boeing was lobbying pretty hard then. Airforce started a competition a couple years after the election. Picked up 2nd hand Hornets from Australia. Another waste of money. At one point in the competition it seemed as if there was a leaning towards Rafale, but it was out when the French were unwilling to code share. I can’t remember why Typhoon was eliminated. It may have been cost, dunno. That left SAAb & LM. After much knuckle dragging an order was finally placed. This was secured with a down payment. As much as I dislike Trudeau, his government started the ball rolling, but they should have signed a contract for 65 min. Again kicking the can down the road on the military like every government since Pierre. Oh yuk, that name puts a bad taste in my mouth.
