Marc Garneau: It's Time for an ‘Honest’ list of Defence Costs

By Monique Scotti, Global News 

The Canadian government needs to be honest with taxpayers about the price-tag for upgrading our military equipment, says Transport Minister Marc Garneau, and the Liberals are preparing to unveil a “realistic set of costs.”

Garneau, a member of the government’s defence procurement committee, was called upon this weekend to answer questions from The West Block‘s Vassy Kapelos, in lieu of Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

READ MORE: PMO taps transport minister with defence interview in place of embattled Sajjan

Sajjan has faced sustained criticism over the last two weeks after he falsely claimed to have been the “architect” of an offensive in Afghanistan. He has since apologized repeatedly for that “mistake.”

The controversy surrounding the minister comes just ahead of the expected unveiling of the government’s long-awaited defence policy review.

Garneau said the document would be made public “very shortly,” but would not confirm if the review would include an immediate influx of new funds for the Canadian Forces.

READ MORE: Federal budget 2017’s lack of defence spending draws fire

Previous governments, including Liberal ones, have not properly assessed the real cost of purchasing new fighter jets, ground vehicles, ships and rescue planes, Garneau noted.

“I’m not going to talk about any of the details at this point,” he said.

“We’ve looked at it very carefully, we’ve calculated the costs very carefully. We’ve had them audited, we’ve had them checked by five different companies.”

Canada currently spends less than one-per-cent of its gross domestic product on defence (far short of the 2 per cent target set by NATO), and has cut back significantly on operating costs over the past decade.

“I’m ex-navy, I can tell you we don’t have resupply ships at the moment,” Garneau acknowledged.

“We don’t have a destroyer left. If we had to go into combined operations we’d have to work with the Americans in order to ensure area defence.”
Accepts Sajjan’s apology

As for Sajjan’s “mistake,” Garneau said that as an ex-military member himself, he accepts the minister’s apology.

“I know minister Sajjan very well and I serve with him on the defence procurement committee, and I can tell you that there is no one who is fighting harder to make sure that the men and women of the armed forces are properly equipped and taken care of,” Garneau said.


Asked why Sajjan would make such a provably false claim about the level of his involvement in a military offensive, Garneau said that’s not for him to answer.

“Mr. Sajjan will use his own words if he chooses to do so. I’m not going to interpret. I certainly accept his apology and I’m very glad he is the minister of defence.”

Cabinet Committee deciding on final options to replace Canada CF-18s

By: Daniel Leblanc, The Globe and Mail 

A seven-member federal cabinet committee is drawing up final options to replace Canada’s aging fighter jets, sources say – and the ministers include Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who openly advocated against the purchase of Lockheed-Martin F-35s in recent years.

Government officials said the cabinet committee is working to refine the choices that will eventually be put in front of the full cabinet, where there will be a debate before the government makes a final call. The acquisition of the new fighter jets is estimated to cost at least $9-billion, plus decades of maintenance and operation costs.

“We may have no bigger or more complex [decision to make] this mandate,” a senior Liberal official said

The Liberals promised in last year’s election campaign not to buy the F-35, but once in government, they committed to holding an “open and transparent” competition to select the new aircraft.

However, the government has been putting growing emphasis in recent weeks on the “urgent” need to find a replacement for the three-decade-old fleet of CF-18s, and critics, including Conservatives, accuse the Liberals of rigging the process to purchase a fleet of Boeing Super Hornets at the expense of the F-35. That aircraft had long been championed by the previous government.

Retired lieutenant-general Ken Pennie, who is a former head of the Air Force, said he hopes the government will make its choice based on the need to protect the country’s territory instead of political considerations.

“I think there should be a competition based on the requirement to defend Canada,” he said in an interview. “I don’t know what that requirement is today, but it has to be something that will be effective against what the Russians are going to put on the table in the next 20, 30, 40 years.”

Sources said the file is currently in front of the cabinet “ad hoc” committee on defence procurement, which is chaired by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr.

The other members of the committee are Treasury Board President Scott Brison, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Procurement Minister Judy Foote, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, Science Minister Kirsty Duncan and Mr. Garneau.

When he was in opposition, Mr. Garneau repeatedly slammed the F-35 for having a single engine, saying the aircraft would put pilots at risk in the event of engine failure in the Arctic. The Super Hornet, while featuring older technology than the F-35, has two engines.

“All things being equal, two engines are better than one,” Mr. Garneau said in 2011.

Mr. Garneau added the manufacturer should have to guarantee that 100 per cent of the value of its aircraft would be reinvested in Canada. The F-35 project does not include traditional regional benefits, but rather opportunities for Canadian firms to bid on work for the aircraft’s international production line.

“We know we can get a better deal for Canadians, with guaranteed offsets,” Mr. Garneau said at the time.

During Question Period on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was critical of the F-35, which has faced delays and technological challenges in recent years, as an aircraft “that doesn’t work.”

Former CF-18 pilot Billie Flynn, who now works for Lockheed-Martin as an F-35 test pilot, disputed the Prime Minister’s characterization. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Flynn said the so-called “fifth-generation” F-35 is already operational with the U.S. Marine Corps, meaning it could “go to war” right away.

“The F-35 is better, more capable than any fourth-generation aircraft that flies today, period,” Mr. Flynn said.

He added the F-35 beat out the Super Hornet and other fighter jets in a recent competition in Denmark, not only in terms of technical capabilities, but also cost.