By Kimball Cariou, candidate in Vancouver Kingsway.
Last June, I wrote an article for the Georgia Straight online website about the skyrocketing costs of purchasing new F‑35 Joint Strike Fighter jets from U.S. munitions giant Lockheed Martin. At the time, the news had just broken that the price tag had jumped from $ 3.8 billion for 80 F‑35s when the deal was first proposed back in 2008, up to $ 9 billion for just 65 jets, plus another $ 7 billion on “ancillary costs” such as future parts and maintenance. The total price tag had more than quadrupled within just two years! Now we understand from Pentagon figures that the total cost of this purchase over a thirty‑year period is expected to hit $ 29 billion, a staggering sum for a country with serious social and economic problems.
