Finally Canadians Talking Common Sense In Regards To The F-35

via the Vancouveur Sun.  Read it all but the juicy part.

Unfortunately, sometimes ridiculously exaggerating what the auditor-general had to say about how the proposed purchase has been handled, politicians and other critics merge these two issue, using the bureaucracy's mistakes to question the need for the fifth generation F-35 itself.
Let's live in the real world. Unless Canada decides drastically to change its defence strategy and becomes pacifist and isolationist, we will continue, as we have done for a century, to commit ourselves to military alliances and partnerships to further our national interests. To be worthy allies and partners we have to be more than peace-keepers uttering platitudes - the bulwark of the Liberal defence strategy for years.
As with the entire F-35 debate, the auditor-general's report is being discussed with no external context.
The competence and integrity of the folks at the Defence Department aside, what about the eight other partner countries in the program, and the Japanese, who have ordered 42 F-35s? Why are a bunch of Europeans signed up to an American program when the EU nations already produces several newish fighter jets of their own. Are they all idiots, too?
The multinational JSF program follows on that of the F-16, another U.S. warplane chosen by many European countries about 30 years ago. As with the F-35, the F-16 had initial teething problems but it was ultimately successful. This may explain why the F-35 European partner nations have shown far more patience with the F-35's hurdles than Canadian critics have.
As for Canada not having a competitive bidding process before deciding on the F-35, neither did its JSF partners except the U.S., which chose Lockheed Martin's X-35 over Boeing's X-32 in an early design competition. The Japanese, who are not partners, did hold a competition and concluded the JSF was better than Boeing's Super Hornet and the Eurofighter consortium's Typhoon.
There is no competition to be had if you want stealth and a networked capability because there are no other western aircraft being produced now that have this. It is that simple.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

Way to go buddy.  Cut through the nonsense of the "cabal" and get to brass tacks.  Matthew Fischer!  I gotta buy you a beer.