PBI-Canada participates in day of action in opposition to Canadian government spending $19 billion on new warplanes
Photos by Koozma J. Tarasoff.
This past October 2, Peace Brigades International-Canada joined with individuals and groups across the country in a day of action opposed to the Canadian government’s plan to award a $19 billion contract in 2022 for new fighter jets.
Twenty-three actions took place in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
PBI-Canada was at Ottawa South MP David McGuinty’s office in the morning to ask him to reject the purchase of new fighter jets and then joined the gathering on Parliament Hill with the 30-foot long banner (in photo above).
For more on the reasoning for our opposition to the acquisition of new fighter jets, please see Five reasons to say no to spending $19 billion on warplanes.
While the price tag of the fighter jets is $19 billion, it would cost billions more.
In April 2012, the Auditor General of Canada stated that the $9 billion cost of buying 65 F-35 fighter jets was an “underestimate” given the “sustainment” cost of $16 billion over a 20-year period meant the truer price tag would be $25 billion.
Using the Auditor General’s figure of sustainment costs of an F-35 ($19 billion ÷ 65 fighter jets = $292.3 million), the truer cost of purchasing 88 fighter jets in 2022 could be closer to $44.7 billion (88 x $292.3 million = $25.7 billion + $19 billion purchase price).
Years ago, Petra Kelly wrote in Nonviolent Social Defense:
“We spend billions on weapons research and millions training our young people at military academies. Why not invest in peace studies and peace actions? We need training centers, public campaigns, and educational materials.”
And we are honoured that she then highlighted: “We need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict. We need to work concretely to realize peace and nonviolence in our time.”
To support our call for a reprioritization of spending, you can sign this petition that calls on the federal government to choose people and peace, not weapons and war.
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