FEDERAL CONSERVATIVES AND F-35 PLANES

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried an Opinion article by Geoffrey Stevens titled "Harper won't admit F-35 mistake". While it's been obvious for a number of years now that there really is nothing good about the original plan to purchase these, inappropriate for Canadian needs, military aircraft; the question for me is how much money above and beyond the 7 year time span has been wasted? Surely a seven year trip in the wrong direction carrys some costs. Surely the cancellation of a memorandum of agreement signed in 2006 and then Cabinet's confirmation of their go ahead four years later (July 2010) means Canada will be paying some sort of penalty to get out of our commitment ? This of course is the typical problem when politicians are spending other peoples' money.

The F-35 is inadequate on numerous fronts. From being a stealth attack plane to having only one engine while patrolling the far north in isolated areas, there are better choices. The question is why did it take the Feds seven years to figure out the obvious? This friends and neighbours is why our taxes at all levels are so high. We as Canadians get second rate service from our governments because they are so unaccountable with our taxes. Literally billions of dollars get wasted and nobody loses their job much less even eventually votes.