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Accelerating the purchase would save money

Accelerating the purchase would save money. Not just on what we intend to spend for the Australian jets, plus their conversion to Canadian standards, but also on the continuing costs of keeping the aging CF-18s in fighting form. It would also keep our pilots safer, and make our military more effective, both for domestic defence and patrol, and missions abroad in support of our allies. Nothing is served by delay. But delay we will.

One suspects that the government’s real motive is figuring out exactly how many political symbols they can wring out of whomever ends up building the jets. The government added an additional item to the widely understood technical requirements for any winning bidder: not only will the company have to show that its jets will be of net economic benefit to Canada (an annoying but routine requirement), but all of the company’s other business interests will also have to be to Canada’s benefit.

This is why we can’t have nice things. The Liberals continue to view the military not as an instrument of national defence and tool of state policy, but as a jobs-creation program writ large. Getting warriors the tools they need is something to consider, according to this logic, but the real priority is making the decisions that will win the most political points (or lose the fewest).

It will work, in a sense. Suppliers will play along, building in (and charging for) extras that will let the government pretend its won “investments” in our economy. But it will add time and complexity to an already complicated process that we’re not particularly good at in the first place. It’s transparently political and reminds our troops that they are not as important to the government as giving ministers opportunities to hand out big novelty cheques and cut ribbons when foreign military giants sprinkle a few jobs across Canada in key ridings.

It’s foul and dispiriting. But it’s not surprising, which is the most dispiriting part of all.