The Liberals broke their promise, and are sole-sourcing the F18 Super Hornet fighter jet from Boeing. That's from MP and National Defence Critic for the Conservative party James Bezan after Wednesday's federal announcement. And he says it's a concern, seeing as it's being done without any idea of what the cost will be.

"So, how much is this going to cost the Canadian taxpayers? We do know Kuwait, who just bought 40 Super Hornets last week, are paying around $335 million dollars per plane, which is a big difference from the $65 million the Liberals promised during the election. We know that it's putting Canadian jobs at risk."

He says contracts to maintain Canada's F35 jets extend across the country, including 400 high paying jobs in Winnipeg. He adds there shouldn't be a competition five years from now but today instead, and all aircraft manufacturers should be able to participate.

"Those jobs are at risk, since they aren't buying the F35. And even though they're saying they're going to have competition for the remaining fleet in five years time, since then they've committed Canada to buying the Super Hornet. Once you put in place the infrastructure, the training for pilots, mechanics, and engineers to maintain these 18 aircraft, it'll be foolish to go and buy another type of airplane and have a mixed fleet. The Department of National Defence has said for many years that it's not the best use of taxpayers dollars, nor is it the best way to manage our aircraft fleets. You always have that possibility -- this is even true of the F18 versus the Legacy CF18s we fly -- there's always that possibility of putting the wrong part in the wrong plane, and having a wreck. The F18 Superhornet is quite a bit different than our 30- year-old CF18s."

Bezan says a competition should be held today and not five years from now because all necessary work's been done already.

"They should be holding the competition today that is open and fair, and that all aircraft manufacturers can participate in. They shouldn't be rigging the standard of requirements -- the specifications that they want to see in an aircraft -- so we can judge which plane is in the best interest of our air force. The air force definitely has one type of plane that they want. They can also make the decision as to what is in the best interest of the Canadian aerospace industry and the regional benefits that are derived from it in creating the most jobs and opportunity. Ultimately, we have to make the right decision for the Canadian taxpayer so we get the biggest bang for our buck."

Basically, Bezan explains, the Liberals mismanaged the entire file. He notes their plans to keep our current seventy-seven CF18s flying beyond the year 2025 is a bad mistake. He says the decision to replace the fleet needs to be made now. By doing so today, Canada's commitments that reach beyond 2025 to NORAD can be kept.

"National Defence has said over and over again, including commander Hood of the Royal Canadian Air Force, we have the ability to meet our requirements and make sure the planes are completely updated until 2025. After that, just flying 18 Super Hornets won't do the job."