Conservative defence critic called for new fighter jet in 12 months

OTTAWA – One of the most vocal critics of the Liberal government’s rush to buy new fighter jets says a new plane needs to be chosen within the next year to prevent a future gap.

Conservative defence critic James Bezan previously accused the Liberals of trying to buy a new jet without a competition by manufacturing talk about a pending shortage of aircraft.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press on Tuesday, Bezan said he believes Canada will not have enough fighter jets or trained pilots when the CF-18s retire in 2025 if a replacement isn’t selected soon.

“It’s about making a decision to replace the plane,” he said. “A decision, in my personal opinion, that should have been made before this. We have to make that decision within 12 months because time is running out on the CF-18s.”

Bezan’s comments came after the Commons’ defence committee released a report Monday that called on the government to buy new fighter jets within a year and re-open debate over ballistic missile defence.

Conservative and NDP committee members accused the Liberals of writing the final report without their input to justify whatever comes out of the government’s defence policy review.

But Bezan acknowledged Tuesday that he was the one who suggested the report include a recommendation that the government choose a new fighter jet within 12 months.

Yet the Tory MP also insisted the government hold a competition to choose a new plane, which he said should be possible within a year.

“All the homework’s been done,” he said. “We know who all the players are. We know what all the fighter jets’ capabilities are that are out there. It’s just about putting out the call for bids and take it from there.”

The question of whether the military faces or will soon face a shortage of fighter jets has become central to the debate that has raged for years over which aircraft Canada should buy to replace its aging CF-18s.

The Liberals say the problem is real and requires a quick solution to ensure Canada is able to meet all its international obligations. Critics, however, have accused the Liberals of manufacturing a crisis to justify buying Boeing Super Hornets instead of the F-35 stealth fighter without a competition.

The report released Monday is the second in as many years from the Commons’ defence committee dealing with defending North America.

The first, published in June 2015, received unanimous approval from all committee members. It urged the government to replace the CF-18s soon, but did not offer a specific time frame.

The Liberals recently concluded consultations with companies on how fast they could deliver new fighter jets. A decision on the next step is expected sometime in the fall.

Bezan said the timeline he suggested to the defence committee was supposed to remain confidential, but was leaked to the public by Liberal MP John McKay, the parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

He alleges McKay’s comments, which were made on a TV political panel, violated his parliamentary privilege and that Conservative MPs boycotted the committee after the Liberal chair refused to look into the matter.

“The Liberals are more concerned about protecting their parliamentary secretary than following the rules and procedures of the House of Commons,” he said. “And things kind of spiralled down from there. They just started ramming through everything.”

The committee’s chair, Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr, did not respond to requests for comment.

– Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.