Trudeau vows to scrap F-35 program, use savings to increase navy spending

Instead, Justin Trudeau said if elected, his government would launch an “open and transparent competition” to replace the aging fleet of CF-18s with a cheaper option, allowing increased spending on the Royal Canadian Navy.

The Conservatives and Department of National Defence had favoured the F-35 fighter jet for replacing the CF-18s, and the government repeatedly trumpeted the F-35 aircraft’s stealth capabilities when explaining why it was the only aircraft that meets Canada’s requirements. The process was put on hold after the federal auditor general accused the government of failing to do adequate research on the jets and misleading the public about the price tag.

“We have been generous and we have been responsible”.

Procurement of 65 F-35s by the Conservative government, which would have cost taxpayers an estimated $44 billion over their four-decade lifetime, has been beset with controversy surrounding their cost and capabilities.

Trudeau said “tens of billions” of dollars would be saved by buying the less expensive planes, which he said would ensure that all the ships promised under the federal shipbuilding project can be built.

Taking from recommendations in a Canadian Forces report, Trudeau said a Liberal government would reduce the size of the administration within Canada’s military, giving it “more teeth and less tail”.

Questioned about the poll that has the NDP on top during his Montreal stop, Trudeau came out swinging.

The military needs “more teeth and less tail”, he said, meaning more money for frontline resources and less on bureaucracy.

Trudeau defended his promise to welcome 25,000 refugees from Syria by year’s end – more than the Conservatives or the NDP have promised to do – by saying all that’s standing in the way is political will. He also committed to implementing a zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy in the Canadian Forces.

Trudeau said Sunday that after 10 years of Conservative rule, the Canadian Forces “are in a state of stagnation” and military equipment procurement has become “paralyzed”.

Roughly 200,000 refugees from the Second World War – many of them Holocaust survivors – travelled to Canada between 1946 and 1952, often through the doors of Pier 21, which has since been turned into an immigration museum.

But he also caught criticism from a local Liberal candidate for a line he used in 1996 during a debate with a Parti Quebecois opponent over Quebec separation.

Prior to his announcement in Halifax, a smaller crowd greeted Trudeau at Halifax Stanfield global Airport, where he was joined by Central Nova candidate Sean Fraser.

Speaking to CTV’s Question Period, May said if the NDP and Liberals are banking on Green support in a minority situation, they better be prepared to take real action on a number of issues, including the opposition to bitumen tankers on British Columbia’s coast.