Liberal defence critic tells a porkie

Mr Dosanjh, the Liberal defence critic, was interviewed on CFRA, Ottawa, this morning (August 9) about the government's invoking a "national security" clause for proposed military equipment purchases. In the course of the interview Mr Dosanjh said (near end of clip):

We as Liberal government had put out some of these requests and tried to enter into these contracts to purchase some of the same equipment. Most of the equipment that is now being sought was being sought earlier...

That is simply untrue. These are the equipments for which the government has issued procurement criteria (the criteria are available through the links):

Strategic Airlift
Tactical Airlift
Medium- to Heavy-Lift Helicopters
Medium-Sized Logistics Trucks
Joint Support Ship.

Last November then-Minister of National Defence Bill Graham tried to get the Martin government to approve a $12.1 billion plan to acquire transport planes, search-and-rescue aircraft and troop-carrying helicopters. That plan was not accepted. Cabinet would only approve up to $5 billion for 16 CC-130 Hercules replacements (tactical airlift).

To repeat, Mr Dosanjh claimed that "Most of the equipment that is now being sought was being sought earlier..." False. Only one type of equipment was actually being sought. Mr Graham is now interim Liberal leader; perhaps he should have a few words with Mr Dosanjh.

To be fair, last November the Conservative defence critic, Gordon O'Connor (now Minister of National Defence), was critical of the planned Liberal purchase, claiming the fix was in for the Lockheed Martin C-130J--the same plane the Conservative government is almost certain to buy.