To: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister-designate of Canada
Prime Minister-designate Trudeau: Keep pledge to cancel F-35 purchase
Just Foreign Policy
Canadian Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau, please keep your pledge to cancel the Canadian purchase of the F-35.
Why is this important?
As a candidate for Canadian Prime Minister, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau committed to scrapping any purchase of the costly Lockheed Martin F-35 jet. [1] Now that he is Prime Minister-designate following Canada’s election, we encourage him to follow through on his pledge, dismissing claims that this would make the US unhappy.
Refusing to purchase the F-35 has been portrayed in some US media as a slap at the US. The New York Times even claimed that if the US didn’t approve the Keystone pipeline, Canada could retaliate by refusing to buy the F-35. [2] But US taxpayers have no interest in the Pentagon’s efforts to keep this costly program alive. [3] On the contrary, US taxpayers will be better off when the taxpayer-ripoff F-35 program is killed completely, and Trudeau’s fulfillment of his pledge will bring that happy day closer because the Pentagon’s plans to keep the boondoggle alive depend crucially on foreign purchases.
Encourage Prime Minister-designate Trudeau to dismiss claims that canceling Canadian purchase of the F-35 is “anti-US” and fulfill his pledge by signing our petition.
References:
1. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/09/20/liberals-would-scrap-f-35-jet-purchase.html; http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/10/what-if-canada-doesnt-buy-f-35/122976/
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/business/energy-environment/obamas-keystone-pipeline-decision-risks-new-problems-either-way.html
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/07/25/how-the-f-35-boondoggle-shows-that-deficit-hawkery-is-a-sham/; http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/07/14/pentagons-big-budget-f-35-fighter-cant-turn-cant-climb-cant-run/; http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/07/09/3458101/f35-boondoggle-fail/
Refusing to purchase the F-35 has been portrayed in some US media as a slap at the US. The New York Times even claimed that if the US didn’t approve the Keystone pipeline, Canada could retaliate by refusing to buy the F-35. [2] But US taxpayers have no interest in the Pentagon’s efforts to keep this costly program alive. [3] On the contrary, US taxpayers will be better off when the taxpayer-ripoff F-35 program is killed completely, and Trudeau’s fulfillment of his pledge will bring that happy day closer because the Pentagon’s plans to keep the boondoggle alive depend crucially on foreign purchases.
Encourage Prime Minister-designate Trudeau to dismiss claims that canceling Canadian purchase of the F-35 is “anti-US” and fulfill his pledge by signing our petition.
References:
1. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/09/20/liberals-would-scrap-f-35-jet-purchase.html; http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/10/what-if-canada-doesnt-buy-f-35/122976/
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/business/energy-environment/obamas-keystone-pipeline-decision-risks-new-problems-either-way.html
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/07/25/how-the-f-35-boondoggle-shows-that-deficit-hawkery-is-a-sham/; http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/07/14/pentagons-big-budget-f-35-fighter-cant-turn-cant-climb-cant-run/; http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/07/09/3458101/f35-boondoggle-fail/