Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) will be examining the federal government’s recent $19 billion purchase of F-35 fighter jets and has written to Defence Minister Anita Anand requesting information from her department on the deal, according to a report.
“In order to provide the analysis to parliamentarians in a timely manner, I ask the information be provided to my office no later than February 13, 2023,” PBO Yves Giroux wrote to Anand in a letter on Jan. 16, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
The information Giroux has requested from National Defence includes data on the financial risk analysis prepared for procurement of the F-35s, planned flying hours for their fleet, details about their projected operating costs, a copy of the agreement signed with the U.S. government to provide the aircraft, and an annual summary of what the Canadian federal government spent on the F-35 development….