Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Canada’s 12-year F-35 Odyssey

Filomena Tassi (C), minister of public services and procurement, along with Anita Anand (2nd R), minister of national defence, and representatives from the federal government hold a press conference in Ottawa on March 28, 2022. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Then-defence minister Peter MacKay climbed into a fake F-35 cockpit before smiling for the cameras and flashing a thumbs up. The date was July 16, 2010, and MacKay had just announced that Canada was planning to buy a fleet of the stealth fighters.

Fast-forward to Monday and the scene was very different. There was no fake cockpit, no smiles or thumbs up as Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi and Defence Minister Anita Anand made virtually the same announcement: Canada was going with the F-35.