Steve Staples, President of the Rideau Institute and the man behind www.ceasefire.ca, action in search of peace, relentlessly holding the Government’s feet to the fire on the F-35’s.
STEVE WRITES (to all supporters):
Dear Sandra,
I spent this morning on Parliament Hill. Stephen Harper’s government is in an absolute turmoil over the F-35 stealth fighters.
The Globe and Mail’s headline is “Ottawa scraps plan for F-35 jet,” while the National Post’s reads, “F-35 Dead in the Air.” Despite the headlines, which were spurred by an unnamed government source, the Harper government says nothing has changed. What is the truth?
Our Ceasefire.ca team responded quickly to the news reports, and we held a press conference on Parliament Hill.
Watch the video of our press conference: http://youtu.be/2ihlm_tAtRQ.
As you know, my commitment to you is to act as a voice for peace in Ottawa, and to confront Stephen Harper’s pro-war plans at every turn. So that’s what we tried to do.
You see, I am very concerned that this coverage is a smoke screen to hide the fact that Harper is sitting on another bombshell report, showing the cost of his F-35 stealth fighter scheme is approaching $40 billion (by comparison, in April, the Auditor General estimated $25 billion, and in March the PBO said $30 billion).
We demanded that the Harper government release this latest F-35 report, which was written by financial firm KMPG. There is only one week left before MPs take their holiday break. I bet Harper is counting the days.
We also explained to reporters that the F-35 is an offensive weapon system, to be used for “shock-and-awe” bombing missions. Canada has no need for it!
Today has been a very important day in our campaign. There’s no doubt that the Harper government is feeling the heat, but we need to keep up the pressure to stop the F-35 stealth fighters.
Thanks for your ongoing support, and everything you do for peace.
In peace,
Steven Staples
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE F-35: click on sub-category Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials). I’ll try to find time to create a separate sub-category that is only F-35 material. There are, for example, reports on other countries that have backed out of F-35 contracts (for good reason).
A contract for the F-35’s has not yet been signed by the Govt of Canada (listen to the above video, Steve Staples). You may remember that Harper’s deal to buy the F-35’s did not go through the required Government tendering process.
click F-22 F35 assement and F18 F-22 armement differences the F-18 Super Hornet has a most formitable track record and a extensive armement capability at a lower price already tested in war and with the new drone program [Canadian Sescatchuan University] which will make most aircraft obsolete in 5 years because of reduced costs. these things should be considered.