Canada’s Auditor General Michael Ferguson released a damning report today declaring that the Department of National Defence didn’t do due diligence in deciding to decommission Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets and replace them with the Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-35 Lighting II fighter jet (pictured).
Costs were deliberately underestimated by the DND and Parliamentarians misled about the tens of billions more that the 65 jets will cost in comparison to the original estimate of $6 to $9 billion. As a result, responsibility for the file has been transferred to a special secretariat of the Public Works Department. You can read more about the whole sorry mess here.