Apparently he did.
Daniel Proussalidis of the Kingston Whig-Standard's Parliamentary Bureau has a story up that has our Bob Rae asking for, nay, demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister and the defence minister over "'a massive fraud' after the auditor general slammed the process National Defence followed for replacing the aging CF-18 fighter jets."
Like um Mr. Rae you be asking the wrong questions. Or question.
The right question is "Why do we need fighter jets?" I know they are cool and everything for Canada Day and just in case of a war I suppose they would come in handy but on the other hand...
Demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister, aw, c'mon, what a waste of air, space, time, paper, etc. Dumb idea.
WFDS
We need fighter jets because, since 2007 the Russian Air Force has been probing Canadian air space with bombers with some regularity.
ReplyDeleteGround-based air defences have severe limitations which potentially make them ineffective against high-flying bombers, in this case, Russian bombers. Fighter/interceptors, in this case, Canadian CF-18's are the best tool currently available for repelling Russian bombers. It is Canada's responsibility to defend Canadian airspace against any and all foriegn incursions, whenever and wherever required. In a country as vast as Canada, fighter/interceptors are the best, largely, the only tool which can do that job effectively.
We need fighter/interceptors for this reason - to protect Canadian airspace.
In addition, we need fighter/bombers or strike-fighters to provide close air support for troops on the battlefield. Sometimes, close air support is the only means available of effectively suppressing or destroying the enemy, to ensure mission success. Increasingly, that means UAVs, but the technology behind UAVs has not yet progressed to the point where they can be a complete replacement for fighter/bombers, or strike-fighters.
In sum, that's why we need fighter-jets. To gain and maintain air superiority, to ensure airspace defence, and to provide close air support.