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Canada shouldn’t spend billions on US fighter jets

fighter jet in the sky
With apologies to Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Just Peace Advocates, and World BEYOND War whose letter I plagiarized below with some customization. 

I trust they’ll forgive me, especially if you click the link below to sign and send your own version:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/cancel-the-f35-fighter-jet-contract-canada-shouldnt-spend-billions-on-us-made-and-controlled-weapons-systems

Photo by Guy Seela

Dear Liberal leader Mark Carney,

We're all glowing with Canadian pride these days and playing Jeff Douglas's "I am Canadian" Molson commerical. But I hope we can live into one sentiment in particular: I believe in peacekeeping, not policing.

To that end, I plead with you to immediately halt plans to buy a new fleet of Lockheed Martin F35 fighter jets. At any time, spending money on instruments of destruction is wasting money on our own demise as humanity.

Amid President Donald Trump's economic siege and annexation threats against Canada, it is unacceptable to pay a US military giant $19 billion for 88 F-35 fighter jets that have a lifecycle cost that will top $70 billion.

Crucially, if we are arming ourselves with an intent to protect against American aggression, to do so through an American weapons system whose source code is processed through specialized American computing facilities and is dependent on the US’ approval and US supply chains for parts, maintenance and upgrades seems not just unwise but downright foolhardy.

Some have suggested Washington will effectively have a “kill switch” on these fighter jets.

There are many other concerns about this procurement. The F-35 does not meet Canada’s security needs. It is a stealth fighter for first strike attacks and not for defensive operations.

Who do we think we're going to be attacking? What good has come out of any war in the past decades? They all cause mass destruction and suffering and are eventually ended through diplomacy anyway. Let's skip all teh death and climate devastation and cut straight to diplomacy.

What’s more, the F-35 has a limited capacity to fly the long distances required to cover Canadian airspace. It is shameful that Canada still has not become a signatory to the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Let's not lean into that poor decision by increasing nuclear risk with this dual-capable warplane designed to carry conventional and nuclear weapons.

The F-35 consumes significantly more fossil fuel than other fighter jets and exacerbates the climate crisis, which, as I'm sure you know, is a leading security threat.

Furthermore, the F-35 is bad for the Canadian economy and workers because it’s built in the US without any economic offset commitments.

Halting the F35 contract now would send a strong message to the most powerful US arms firm that Canadians are outraged by President Trump’s economic siege. It would also send a message to the Pentagon since the F-35 was chosen in part so that Canada’s air force can support the US military globally. It would also get Canada out of a carbon-intensive weapons system with mounting costs.

From a nationalist, economic and moral standpoint, the F-35 purchase is a sop to the US military industrial complex that must be reevaluated as part of Canada’s response to Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats. Ottawa must have control over national defence and do what is best for the security of Canadians – cancel the F-35s.

Sincerely,


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