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I spent the morning today on Parliament Hill. Stephen Harper’s government is in an absolute turmoil over the F-35 stealth fighters.

The Globe and Mail‘s headline is ‘Ottawa scraps plan for F-35 jet,’ while the National Post‘s reads, ‘F-35 Dead in the Air.’ Despite the headlines, which were spurred by an unnamed government source, the Harper government says nothing has changed. What is the truth?

Our Ceasefire.ca team responded quickly to the news reports, and we held a press conference on Parliament Hill. (Watch the video of our press conference here.) 

You see, I am very concerned that this coverage is a smoke screen to hide the fact that Harper is sitting on another bombshell report, showing the cost of his F-35 stealth fighter scheme is approaching $40 billion (by comparison, in April, the Auditor General estimated $25 billion, and in March the PBO said $30 billion). 

We demanded that the Harper government release this latest F-35 report, which was written by financial firm KPMG. There is only one week left before MPs take their holiday break. I bet Harper is counting the days.

We also explained to reporters that the F-35 is an offensive weapon system, to be used for “shock-and-awe” bombing missions. Canada has no need for it!

Today has been a very important day in our campaign. There’s no doubt that the Harper government is feeling the heat, but we need to keep up the pressure to stop the F-35 stealth fighters. 

The next week will be very important for the future of the Harper’s F-35s.

For more updates follow @ceasefireblog

Steven Staples

Steven Staples

Steven Staples is an accomplished advocacy and research strategist, published author, political commentator, and award-winning peace and social justice advocate with over 25 years of experience in activist...