Conservatives kept abreast of all F-35 problems, senior bureaucrats say

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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/national/Conservatives+kept+abreast+problems+senior+bureaucrats/7645715/story.html


Conservatives kept abreast of all F-35 problems, senior bureaucrats say
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News December 3, 2012

OTTAWA — Senior government officials claim in an internal document that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet were kept up to speed every step of the way as the government moved to purchase the troubled F-35 stealth fighter.

This included a complete understanding of the cost overruns and delays plaguing the $25-billion fighter jet program as well as the controversial process National Defence and Public Works were following to acquire the plane.

The document, prepared this past spring in advance of a scathing auditor general’s report on the F-35, appears to have been designed to shift responsibility for the stealth fighter program’s mismanagement from the bureaucracy to the Conservatives.

Combined with the Harper government’s admission it knew the jets would cost $10 billion more than Canadians were being told before the election, the document may bolster allegations the Conservatives have kept voters in the dark about the stealth fighter program.