Once again going off on a rant without doing your own fact checks.
So the story goes that Boeing got upset over the subsidies provided by both the Quebec government as well as the Liberal Federal government to Bombardier(which you have to admit has very poor management as companies go) with regards to Bombardier dumping planes on the US market so Boeing launched a trade dispute which it won.
The 220% Duty was arbitrarily applied by the US Commerce Dept. The WTO Trades and Tariffs independent organization will be assessing the Duty probably in the New Year. It won't stand the true test of subsidies just like timber and petroleum exports.
So are we to just give up our own high tech sector Aircraft manufacturing to appease the Americans?
The fact is
All Airplane manufacturers around the world are subsidized by Governments including Boeing. Boeing's complaint is Canada helps front the Development costs up front whereas the US gives tax breaks to Boeing for their manufacturing end. In real terms this is a political move by States, Senators and Congress who want the manufacturing in their back yards.
Boeing sees the new C Series from Bombardier as a real threat to their own mid size aircraft. They are using their power and influence to deter Bombardier in Montreal and in the UK from entering the market they have dominated. Brazil's Embraer Aircraft are in the same boat as Bombardier.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-bombardier-embraer/embraer-ceo-sees-u-s-duties-boosting-brazils-wto-case-idUSKCN1C22H4
Since that has happened the Trudeau Government has now cancelled the order for 18 Super Hornets(which was a stop gap measure) and is going to buy used jets from Australia and as of today announced that the WHOLE jet purchase program will start AGAIN and that ANY company that has done anything detrimental to the Canadian economy will be put on the shit end of the list with regards to that new jet contract(which was for 88 jet fighters) which puts Boeing on the bottom rung of the ladder and Lockheed Martin at the top and the jet Lockheed Martin has is the F-35 stealth fighter that the Trudeau Liberals campaigned against as it was a "single source contract" and here is the real KICK in the TEETH the whole program gets kicked down the road to 2025.
Why would we support a US Corporation that has lobbied the US Commerce Department to slap a 220% tariff on our products exported to the USA? It makes no sense to support any US Corp who are putting jobs at risk in Canada.
You would rather have several thousand skilled Canadian workers on the Dole or having to move to the US to work in their industry?
I agree we should not be buying used Aircraft from the Aussie's but the Americans picked this fight and standing up for Canada means a lot more than being pushed around by Boeing and US Dept of Commerce. Upside is we already have training, spares and all logistics already in place with the CF-18's.
I'd supporting buying the Super Hornet vs the F-35. Still, it's up to Boeing and the US to back down on their 220% mind boggling duty.
The F-35 was grossly over priced and was questionable about its performance.
from Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II_Canadian_procurement
American versus Canadian pricing[edit]
On 5 April 2011 at a Parliament Hill press conference, Winslow Wheeler, of the Center for Defense Information in Washington discussed the F-35's pricing. Wheeler worked for 30 years in Washington for both Republican and Democratic senators and for the United States General Accounting Office. He said of the Harper government's figures that "nobody on this earth" will pay just $75M for their F-35s, indicating that Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page's numbers were "by far and away" more accurate than the government estimates. On the aircraft's performance he stated, "This airplane is nothing to write home about...a gigantic performance disappointment...you're getting an underperforming airplane for a huge amount of money". Wheeler recommended Canada hold a competition to choose an aircraft instead of a sole-sourced purchase.[112]
On 10 April 2011 Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that the United States would have to pay more for the F-35 but that Canada would get the aircraft at a fixed price that would not be affected by any cost overrun. He said: "On the F-35s, I think we've been clear: there have been detailed briefings from the department of national defence on this, there's a memorandum of understanding that's posted. We are sheltered from research and development costs." In criticizing the Liberal plan to hold a competition to choose a new fighter, Harper said, "This is a good deal for the country, the fantasy is on the other side. That somehow they're going to come up with some airplane out of thin air and they don't even know what airplane, they're still going to buy planes they say but they don't know airplane and they don't have any agreement."[113]
On 17 April 2011 the Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald newspapers reported that the government's C$14 billion project costing does not include the F-35's engines. The engines are listed as “government furnished equipment”, indicating they must be purchased separately. Representatives of the Conservative Party and at the Department of National Defence responded that the price of the engines was included the overall price.[114][115][116]
Retired Canadian Forces Lieutenant-General Angus Watt responded to the engines controversy on April 19, 2011, indicating that the engines are not included in the purchase from Lockheed Martin, but are purchased separately from Pratt & Whitney and are included in the overall price quoted. He stated that the quote of C$75M per aircraft does not include some spares, weapons or infrastructure costs and thus is not comparable to quoted US costs which do include those items; and that if included would bring unit cost to about C$138M per aircraft, comparable to current US pricing. He concluded, "the airplane has not suddenly become more expensive. It is simply a matter of which costs you directly attribute to the airplane.[117]
In late April 2011 the Department of National Defence issued a statement indicating that the F-35 unit purchase price would be higher than $75M each, due to development cost overruns. DND indicated that these increases would be absorbed in the overall project budget. Pentagon information revealed operating costs to also be much higher than the Government of Canada had previously indicated, even higher than the Parliamentary Budget Officer had forecast and will total more than C$24B over 30 years for 65 aircraft.[118][119]
In response to the DND statement Prime Minister Stephen Harper was dismissive, stating that extra costs would be covered by contingency funds. To the press questions about his seeming contradiction of DND officials, Harper said, "many of the reports you're citing are comparing apples to oranges. Our experts have put out their detailed figures and everything we've seen is within those figures and their contingencies — the contingencies that have been allowed."[119][120] Opposition politicians reacted to Harper's statement. Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff stated "And the thing that is so mendacious about what the government is doing is that they say to the Canadian people we can get you the plane at the right price. Let me tell you folks. Not even President Obama knows what the planes are going to cost. This thing is out of control." Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said, "What we've said since the very beginning and when Mr. Harper is saying, he [doesn't] want to withdraw a contract, that means there's a contract. It's time until next Monday that he showed us that contract." NDP Leader Jack Layton said, "We've got issues of our own sovereignty, we've got the north, we've got questions of disasters that might take place and equipment that might be required, whether it's elsewhere in the world or right here in Canada. Let's have a full discussion of what the equipment needs are and what the priorities should be."[120]
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/03/10/budget_watchdog_doubles_price_estimate_for_f35_jets.html
