Tories forced to defend F-35 purchase amid damning report

Tories forced to defend F-35 purchase amid damning report

Canadians are being warned that the Harper government is underestimating the lifetime costs of new F-35 fighter jets by more than $12-billion – a third blow to a government already under fire for stonewalling in the Commons.

A new report from Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, whose post was established by the Conservatives to ensure “truth in budgeting,” says the total price tag for the jets is close to $30-billion – nearly 70 per cent more than government estimates.

... The budget officer’s report was peer-reviewed by non-partisan experts at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Queen’s University.

The Conservatives said on Thursday they are not budging from their earlier estimates.

Bruce Rolston, a military blogger, provides a useful discussion of spending priorities in A Model for Foreign Deployment Flexibility (2003).