Jagmeet Singh says NDP would cancel F-35 contract and build fighter jets in Canada

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced Sunday his enactment would cancel Canada's declaration to bargain U.S.-built F-35s and look for companies to physique combatant jets successful Canada — a connection that immoderate defence experts accidental comes with steep costs.

"Purchasing from the [United] States astatine this clip is not successful our nationalist information interest," Singh told reporters successful Iqaluit conscionable days aft Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canada is reconsidering its F-35 acquisition amid tensions with Washington.

"Let's bargain combatant jets wherever the institution volition physique those jets successful [Canada], creating jobs but besides a nationalist information of knowing that we tin physique and we tin support those combatant jets successful our ain country," Singh added.

After years of delay, the Liberal authorities signed a declaration with the U.S. defence elephantine Lockheed Martin successful June 2023 to acquisition 88 F-35 jets.

But now, arsenic U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up his threats to annex Canada by economical force, there's been a groundswell of enactment among Canadians to termination the $19-billion acquisition and look elsewhere for aircraft.

However, cancelling the declaration wholly is not arsenic casual arsenic it sounds, according to Philippe Lagassé, a Carleton University subordinate prof whose probe focuses connected defence argumentation and procurement.

Lagassé said determination would beryllium penalties to cancelling the declaration outright, connected apical of having to rethink oregon halt infrastructure improvement and grooming for the F-35s.

"To enactment an extremity to that declaration present without having immoderate different program successful spot would beryllium reasonably hard for the Canadian forces, including the CF-18 fleet which is truly astatine the extremity of its life."

In a quality release, the NDP said it would motorboat a caller bidding contention that "prioritizes Canadian jobs and independency from the United States." 

The enactment highlighted a connection from Swedish institution Saab, which promised assembly of its Gripen combatant pitchy would instrumentality spot successful Canada and determination would beryllium a transportation of intelligence property, which would let the craft to beryllium maintained successful Canada.

Lagassé said procurement rules would not let Canada to simply crook astir and judge Saab's proposal, which finished 2nd successful the erstwhile competition. 

"That's not however this works successful law. You would request to acceptable up different programme and reconsider however you're going to bash this," Lagassé said.

The NDP quality merchandise primitively had a header that said the enactment "will physique F-35s successful Canada" until it was changed to accidental the NDP "will physique jets successful Canada, put successful Canada's North and Arctic sovereignty."

Security concerns with F-35s

In its release, the NDP said if Canada buys F-35s from the U.S., that authorities volition clasp "complete control" of the bundle and hardware upgrades needed to support operating the plane, which the enactment says is simply a strategical vulnerability.

Rebecca Miller, Lockheed Martin's manager of planetary media relations, addressed online misinformation that suggested the F-35s person a "kill switch" that could crook disconnected the craft belonging to allies oregon hobble capabilities if the U.S. ordered the institution to bash so.

"As portion of our authorities contracts, we present each strategy infrastructure and information required for each F-35 customers to prolong the aircraft," Miller said successful a statement. "We stay committed to providing affordable and reliable sustainment services to our customers that alteration them to implicit their missions and travel location safely."

WATCH | Defence Minister Bill Blair says Canada is reconsidering F-35 purchase: 

Lagassé said the U.S. could "probably" forestall upgrades oregon caller parts, but noted the "entire equipped forces has this problem. The world is the [Canadian and American] militaries are arsenic interconnected arsenic the trading relationship."

"We're implicit indexing connected 1 level erstwhile it's a speech astir an wide capability."

Former main of the defence unit Tom Lawson told CBC News connected Sunday that bundle upgrades could beryllium denied to someone, "and past you'd beryllium stuck utilizing an craft which would property inelegantly successful coming years oregon for arsenic agelong arsenic you were ejected."

"But the script nether which that would hap would beryllium 1 of implicit aggression betwixt the U.S. and Canada. And I'm not definite there's immoderate denotation that we're connected the verge of those kinds of discussions," Lawson said.