Vancouver woman starts petition to have social justice assessment of F-35 purchase

[Scudrunner]

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/v ... 0e4cf.html

Vancouver resident Sarah Rohleder started a petition to the House of Commons to do an analysis on the social justice implications about buying F-35 fighter jets.

“The procurement of these fighter jets is antithetical to feminist foreign policy and diverts public funds away from necessary social programs like healthcare, education and housing,” said Rohleder in a Thursday petition.

“The F-35s are fossil fuel-powered, will emit greenhouse gases and will exacerbate the climate crisis.”

The Canadian government said in March it had chosen the F-35 as its preferred replacement for the air force’s dated CF-18 fighters and will open negotiations with Lockheed Martin to manufacture them.

It is critical that current and future Royal Canadian Air Force pilots have the most advanced equipment available to ensure they can deliver on the important work that we ask of them,” said Defence Minister Anita Anand.

Anand said the procurement project, the largest in Canada in more than three decades, will ensure the Canadian military can “continue to defend North America, enhance our Arctic sovereignty and meet our NATO and NORAD obligations in the face of current and emerging threats.”

The petition said the Canadian government plans to purchase 88 new Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters for $19 billion with a lifecyle cost of $77 billion. The United States Government Accountability Office said the F-35s are a financial risk with high operation costs and more than 800 technical and performance deficiencies.

Rohleder said the F-35s can carry the B61-12 nuclear bomb, which would cause Canada to violate its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. She said the fighter jets will have adverse effects on indigenous communities due to “extreme noise, excessive carbon emissions and damage to their traditional lands from weapons testing and air force bases.”

The initiator called on the House of Commons to “conduct and publicize a comprehensive study on the financial, climate, environmental and social costs and risks of the F-35 fighter jets.” She added it should cancel the F-35 purchase and spend money on climate action and people’s well-being.

The petition will close for signatures on March 6. NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen sponsored the petition.

There have been 36 people who have signed the petition as of Friday. The province with the most signatures was Ontario (14 people).

Subsequent to Ontario was British Columbia (12 people). This was followed by Manitoba (four); Quebec (three); and Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador (one).

The petition will be certified by the clerk of petitions if there are at least 500 signatures.

[mcrit]

Could I start a petition to have these two conscripted and deployed to teach social justice/feminist theory in, say Saudi or Somalia?

[Colonel]

Was this the Babylon Bee? I have difficulty telling the difference between supposed news and brilliant parody.

[Nark]

I remember the days when the Canadian Forces were only expected to clear snow after a storm, not actually, you know, do stuff like, prevent the ideology of Salafism. (Aka ISIS).


I agree. Fly around in Twin Otters in the arctic. Let other countries do the heavy lifting. You guys can buy tickets on Qatar Airways if you want to get home from Afghanistan, or the Middle East.

Military jets are for the PM to take vacations in Island resorts, not to move troops.

[Scudrunner]

My favourite part of this

Rohleder said the F-35s can carry the B61-12 nuclear bomb, which would cause Canada to violate its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Yes our Jets have to potential to carry Nukes we don’t have because you know nukes are bad mmmkay.

Not to mention the CF18 and CF101 or really any military jet that can haul a 1000# bomb has the same capability but the pilots somehow restrained themselves from nuking Shubenacadie NS for sport.

[trey kule]

Whoa tough crowd.,,

I think someone has to come to the lady’s side.

She is the poster child, the perfect example, the reason d’être, for expanding assisted death to the mentally ill.

To me, what she is doing smacks of treason. So maybe she is really a very good covert rabble rouser.
At least, so far, there are only a couple of dozen other loonies out there…..PMO staff excepted

[Slick Goodlin]

On the other hand, isn’t the purchase of a jet fighter supposed to be tied to maintaining people’s rights to say things like that?

[Colonel]

Maybe in other countries?

[Scudrunner]

On the other hand, isn’t the purchase of a jet fighter supposed to be tied to maintaining people’s rights to say things like that?

Absolutely true !

Most people don’t get that connection.

Which also give us the right to ridicule and point out the error of their ways.

[Squaretail]

Personally I blame our education system. If people need a government report to inform them about the negative environmental impact of preparing for and waging warfare, well there's just no helping them.

That said, I think it would go a long ways if our government had a stated mission goal for the Canadian Armed Forces, and had a more codified procurement policy.



Its old, but Rick makes a point. We're way past 2013, do we even have helicopters yet?