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Harper, Mulcair Blast Trudeau For Promising To Scrap Stealth Fighter Jet F-35

The Canadian Press, 21 Sep, 2015 11:33 AM
    OTTAWA — The politics of military procurement preoccupied the federal leaders Monday as they fired rhetorical missiles at each other over the future of Canada's ill-fated attempt to buy new fighter jets.
     
    Stephen Harper and Tom Mulcair both blasted Justin Trudeau for announcing a day earlier he would scrap the multibillion-dollar purchase of F-35 stealth fighters to replace the current aging fleet of CF-18s.
     
     
    The Conservative and NDP leaders both said it showed a lack of judgment by the Liberal leader.
     
    Harper questioned "what planet" Trudeau was living on, while Mulcair said Trudeau was pre-judging the public tendering process.
     
     
    Experts say the F-35 purchase would cost taxpayers about $44 billion over the four-decade lifespan of the Lockheed Martin jets.
     
     
    The F-35 project is on hold after the auditor general offered a scathing critique of the procurement, so the military is working to extend the lifespan of the current CF-18 fleet.