- cross-posted to:
- canada@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- canada@lemmy.ca
We, the undersigned, population of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to reconsider existing and future military contracts with the United States of America, especially the acquisition of new F-35s.
Petition by Charlie Angus
Yes, Canada has invested money and resources into the F35 project and that money will be wasted if we abandon it.
But let’s not throw good money after bad. In economic terms, the money we’ve spent is called a “sunk cost” - meaning that it’s gone. We shouldn’t consider that lost money when deciding what we need to do in the future.
Our country’s defence does not require astronomically expensive fighter jets. And we certainly cannot rely on a country who is threatening to conquer us to supply us the tools to defend ourselves.
What can we do with the money instead?
We could create a cross-trained National Corps who would be skilled in guerrilla-style defensive warfare, and also in providing peacetime support to help deal with climate crisis and building out infrastructure. These corps could be deployed domestically and to support our allies in times of their crises.
Or we could build domestic manufacturing to build the types of equipment we need to defend ourselves. With the integrated automotive industry in desperate peril, can we re-tool the facilities and retrain the people to make what we need?
Or we could shore up support with our European and other worldwide allies and buy equipment from them.