Malcomson

The latest argle-bargle coming out of Ottawa over the awarding of the F-35 contract has me wondering what is so terribly wrong with the public tendering system that such fiscal snafus have to occur. Yes, Canada needs to replace its ageing F-18s and, in order to do that, must enter into a protracted search for a prototype that will ideally replace it around 2020 when its predecessor finally stops flying. I suspect that National Defence bought into the design features of the F-35 back in 2006 by reaching a sole-source agreement with Lockheed-Martin, the aeronautics manufacturer, that brought with it some purchasing incentives. Back then, in its infancy, before the price tag got richer and flaws started to appear, this seemed like a good deal: 50-70 million per plane. The government, while seemingly locked into the deal, reassures Canadians that delivery of the F-35s is not guaranteed. Nothing has been produced that even remotely looks like a plane so why all the fuss about public tendering. Harper and his cabinet are obviously backing this plane because this is the one the Americans favour and Lockheed-Martin are the only ones making it. I am quite sure that open and transparent public tendering, while a reasonable gesture to the Canadian taxpayer and Canadian aeronautic firms, would not address the bigger picture of what we hope to get for our money. Face it, if the costs of this plane continue to sky-rocket like they seem to be, it will never get off the ground and Ottawa and Washington will be forced to return to square one to look for a better model that serves their joint needs. Right now the F-35 is still it. Buying so far into the future makes public tendering impossible to work with any degree of accuracy or reliability