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Former Conservative defence minister Peter MacKay is rallying behind the F-35 and Lockheed Martin in a new opinion column that appeared in the Toronto Sun.

Boeing officials, who are trying to sell the Liberal government and public on their Super Hornet fighter jet, must be very happy.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Peter MacKay has the potential to be a liability to the F-35 cause Back to video

That’s because MacKay has the potential to be a liability to the F-35 cause.

For a number of Canadians, rightly or wrongly, MacKay is associated with waste of tax dollars. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation went after him in 2011 for what they claimed were lavish tastes on the taxpayer’s dime. One of their officials dubbed MacKay as “helicopter boy” after it was revealed MacKay’s office had requested a Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter pick him up at a private fishing lodge near Gander, N.L., in July 2010.

MacKay later used a government Challenger jet to fly to his riding in Nova Scotia to attend a lobster dinner.