How Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are spinning the F-35 scandal

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Public Safety Minister Vic Toews made a couple of major communications gaffes when he decided that the police should have access to people's Internet-browsing history without a warrant.

      After introducing Bill C-30 in Parliament earlier this year, he accused his critics of siding with the child pornographers. This only served to galvanize his opponents, who launched a massive Internet campaign against the measure.

      The following weekend, he went on Evan Solomon's CBC Radio show, The House, to defend himself.

      In this interview, Toews revealed he wasn't aware that the bill allowed any police officer to ask an Internet service provider to turn over client information.

      His remarks were repeatedly rebroadcast on CBC TV and radio newscasts, letting the country know that the mustachioed former prosecutor was ill-suited for his portfolio.

      What's the moral of this story? If you're Prime Minister Stephen Harper, you don't want to let your cabinet ministers go on The House to discuss the latest scandal.

      This weekend with the F-35 fighter-jet controversy swirling around the Conservatives, there was no cabinet minister to be heard on The House.

      Auditor General Michael Ferguson's report singled out the Department of National Defence for lowballing the full cost of the fighter-jet program by $10 billion. The Ministry of Public Works was chastised for not providing proper oversight.

      The two respective ministers, Peter MacKay and Rona Ambrose, went underground, leaving the parliamentary secretary to MacKay, Chris Alexander, to do the heavy lifting on The House.

      Solomon grilled the former diplomat with well-researched questions, noting that MacKay had falsely claimed in 2010 that there was a "contract" to buy the fighter jets.

      The CBC host also asked if the real issue was that the government claimed the cost was $15 billion during the 2011 election campaign when it was clear the price was $25 billion.

      "I honestly don’t think that’s the real issue," Alexander replied. (It's worth noting that when people insert the word "honestly" into their responses—which Alexander did twice in the first minute of the interview—some experts believe this is a sign of a deceptive answer.)

      MacKay was able to avoid the issue by skipping the interview. I wonder if he would have shown up had the producers said they would interview the NDP and Liberal defence critics in his place.

      The prime minister's spin doctors probably knew that this wouldn't happen. So they got away with fobbing off Alexander on the program. This occurred even though he wasn't in politics when someone decided to fudge the numbers on the F-35 purchase.

      Then to avoid looking like complete weasels, the government trotted out MacKay to do an interview with Kevin Newman on CTV's Question Period on Easter Sunday.

      From the Conservatives' point of view, the timing was exquisite. Few people pay attention to the news on a major holiday. And CTV doesn't have a radio service, so it couldn't rebroadcast it to listeners on their Monday morning drive to work.

      And because CBC sees CTV as an archrival, the Crown-owned broadcaster did not repeat MacKay's comments to its listeners this morning. The lead story last night on CBC's The National was the death of American journalist Mike Wallace—hardly an earth-shattering event when compared to MacKay's revelation on CTV that he knew about the $25-billion estimate two years ago.

      Parliament is on a break for two weeks, which means MacKay won't have to answer any questions in the real Question Period.

      His explanation to CTV—that the $10 billion was "sunk costs" as part of a difference in accounting—just doesn't wash.

      Ferguson's report stated that the Department of National Defence's $25-billion estimate did not account for the cost of replacing aircraft, as well as any upgrades and the weaponry.

      "Third, many costs are not yet reliably known or cannot yet be estimated," Ferguson also stated in the report. "These include the basic unit recurring flyaway cost of the aircraft, the cost of Canadian required modifications, and the cost of sustainment. In addition, National Defence is still developing its planning assumptions for operating the fleet. This involves hundreds of interrelated decisions about such matters as how pilot and technician training will be delivered, what physical infrastructure is required and what portion is directly attributable to the F-35, how maintenance and repair activities will be supported, and what they will cost."

      MacKay, on the other hand, conveyed to reporters in 2010 that F-35 costs wouldn't rise—which contradicts Ferguson's conclusion that certain expenses weren't accounted for.

      "At $9 billion, we don't anticipate that the cost per aircraft is going to go up," MacKay said in announcing the acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft. "This is a bit complicated in the sense that the onboard sensors and weapons systems are included in that per aircraft cost."

      He also talked a lot about a "contract" at that time, but now the prime minister is saying there is no contract.


      At the six-minute mark of the video, Peter MacKay discusses the cost of F-35 jets.

      The auditor general's report indicates that the real cost of buying and operating these jets will likely be much higher than $25 billion by the time all the cheques are signed. But by then, MacKay will have moved on to another ministry or, more likely, will be sitting on corporate boards of major defence contractors.

      The future looks very bright for MacKay—no matter how much political hot water he appears to be in at the moment.

      Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

      Comments

      12 Comments

      stephen elliott-buckley

      Apr 9, 2012 at 2:10pm

      and the more heat that mackay takes on this file, the more he'll have "earned" his future defence contractor board positions. team player, and all.

      Ron S.

      Apr 9, 2012 at 3:25pm

      Everyone should know that the CTV is the ass kissers of the Federal and Provincial Governments. All they want is the advertising dollars from the governments and to hell with any investigative reporting. Man they must have really brown lips by now after ass kissing Crusty Clark and the BC Rail allegations that they (CTV) reported she wasn't guilty of handing secret information to the competitors of CN. And they're really getting browner ass kissing Harpers minions.

      They are anything but investigaitive reporters at CTV.

      no worry charile

      Apr 9, 2012 at 5:27pm

      They can spin it all they want but the Conservatives are on bs overload when it comes to sending Canadians in the wrong direction. Last count 7000 bogious robo calls where made that helped the Conservatives win a majority election. Now that Charilie is accounting the majority of Canadians don't want Harper running their country and that is a fact and with all the controversay that is going on more have joined the majority ranks saying the Conservatives running this country is almost over. Can you imagine what Canadians will do when more controversay comes down the line, and it will these things always happen in threes.

      Argulion

      Apr 9, 2012 at 5:42pm

      More 'accounting' issues from a government that is headed by an economist and claims to be good fiscal managers. All I can do is laugh cynically at a recurring theme.

      katzy

      Apr 9, 2012 at 5:45pm

      Mackook/Harpo - you just don't get it...this situation would be exactly the same if you were buying Canada a brand new tricycle. The bottom line was : you'al said there was a contract/but there is no contract,prices for purchase have fluctuated and you lied. Lied during the election; wouldn't come clean when the AG disclosed your blunder; one babbling excuse or anwers that appear to be no more than a cover up. Then, whoops when caught by the AG - you got into name calling, bs and put forth nothing more than sacrificial lambs/depts - blaming everyone else but your selves. Unethical, lying, hiding the facts, no ownership, mismanagement and the whole mess is the issue - not the price of the tricyle...

      Stan Mortensen

      Apr 9, 2012 at 8:15pm

      Some accounting issue, seems like the old debate eons ago about a million dollars being just a drop in the bucket with the response being some drop, some bucket.
      If my little company had a comparable "accounting issue" I'd fire myself.

      adam g.

      Apr 9, 2012 at 8:32pm

      re. Ron S. comment: CTV not investigative journalists??! i hope youre not referring to Tamara Taggart, shes a national treasure!! :)

      Jim Van Rassel

      Apr 9, 2012 at 9:14pm

      Testifying before a Canadian parliamentary committee in 2011, Rear Admiral Arne Røksund of Norway similarly estimated that his country's 52 F-35 fighter jets will cost $769 million each over their operational lifetime. Me and Robbins were just talking, Harper starts off saying it's $16 Billion dollars just before the Robo-call elections, and telling everyone it a good buy and we have it lock up the deal. The auditor comes in and says sorry guys this is actually going to cost $26 Billion dollars. Everyone goes crazy and asks how do you explain the $10 Billion dollar bull-shit mistake. MacKay waits for awhile then on the Easter long weekend, when no one is watching he pops up on a news show and explains off the $10 Billion as being salary's, maintenance, and other costs. Yet, the true cost of committing to this aircraft over it's intended life span, for acquisition, and all other cost related to the 65 fights is Actually $50.5 Billion dollars. The media needs to bring back the Auditor general immediately to explain Peter MacKay's new position on the $26 billion. Hey Mr. Auditor General, do these God Dam planes cost $16 Billion, $26 Billion, Or $50.5 Billion?
      Jim Van Rassel
      Coquitlam BC

      what's up

      Apr 10, 2012 at 2:43am

      That's what I don't get either Jim, Norway says 52@ 789 million per plane, the US says 610 million a piece when buying 2,400. Canada gets 65 for 30 billion. That's 461 million a piece. Better price than the US is getting. 50 billion at least before inflation and other inevitable cost increases. With the pentagon's history, it will probably be a lot more.

      Mr v

      Apr 10, 2012 at 9:08am

      They are all liars ,stealing are tax dollars on top of that try to screw the public.