The bungled F-35 procurement that has been plaguing the Harper Government is about to heat up again.

Canadian defence officials are close to completing a report comparing the Lockheed Martin jet and its competitors that will be delivered to the senior bureaucrats charged with putting the fighter procurement project back on track (Lee Berthiaume, “F-35 controversy back on the horizon for federal government,” PostMedia News, 22 January 2014).

At stake is whether the government will choose to hold an open competition between the F-35 and other potential contenders to replace the CF-18 or will simply resume its original plan to purchase the F-35:

“If they think that the so-called reset button has been pushed by producing a same report that comes out with the same conclusion,” said NDP defence critic Jack Harris, “if that’s all it is, then it clearly would have been a farce.

“The only sensible way for the government to go is for an open competition.”

Stay tuned.

Photo credit: US Air Force