Thursday, April 19, 2012

F-35 for cheap

TGB News, Ottawa, 34 September 2012: Today the defence minister announced that the government has inked a deal with the United States that will provide a mixed fleet of F-35s, F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s to the RCAF at the bargain cost of pilot salaries and fuel.

Under the agreement, Canada will pay the USAF to employ RCAF pilots in USAF squadrons and allow those units to be based in Canada. Chief of the RCAF, Lt.Gen. A. R. Head, praised the deal stating it "enhances interoperability with our closest ally and provides Canadians in uniform with the state of the art tools they need" and "guarantees that Canadian pilots will be at the forefront of international missions."

Opposition critics, now confined to the plexiglass enclosed Parliamentary Opposition Zone behind the House of Commons, deplored the move, calling it a surrender of Canadian sovereignty that came very close to treason and that they would ask the prime minister's receptionist to deliver a letter of protest to cabinet and the PMO.

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