Tories urged to come clean on F-35 plans
PM remains tight-lipped over plane
Opposition parties pressed the Harper government to come clean on the F-35 Monday even as internal documents emerged showing National Defence has been going all-out to track media coverage of the stealth fighter program.
This included categorizing news articles and blogs according to tone, following experts who were critical of the stealth fighter, and even looking for a contractor to track all mentions of the F-35 on social media sites such as Twitter.
The documents provide a glimpse into the extent to which public perception has figured into the government’s handling of the jet program, whose future is up in the air following reports auditing firm KPMG put the cost at more than $40 billion.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper remained tight-lipped in the House of Commons on Monday about his plans for the F-35 following reports last week plans to sole-source the project had been killed as a result of the new cost estimate.
“The government has enunciated a comprehensive seven-point plan going forward to ensure that our military does have new aircraft when the time comes to retire the current CF-18 fleet,” Harper said in response to opposition questions.
Opposition parties, however, remained skeptical the government has really come around on the F-35 program and is planning to restart the process to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18s.
“Is there going to be an open competition?” interim Liberal leader Bob Rae asked. “Is there going to be a degree of transparency and openness to the public? What does it mean to start the refresh button?
“None of that is clear. Nor have they made public the KPMG report. We’re still waiting to see that.”
The government is expected to table the report in the coming days after a cabinet committee met last week to devise a communications plan to minimize the fallout and boost the government’s credibility as a sound economic manager, which has been shaken by the F-35.
“This is about public management,” NDP leader Tom Mulcair said. “This is about public money. They didn’t go to public tender ... they didn’t set out the needs of Canada.
“There is a fundamental question of competence.”
Communications has been a key aspect of the F-35 file since Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced in July 2010 that Canada would be purchasing 65 of the stealth fighters for $9 billion.
Documents obtained by Postmedia News show that part of this has included a determined effort to track coverage and criticisms of the program.