Auditor general finds F-35 costs soar amid project delays, pilot shortages

An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practises for an air show appearance in Ottawa on Sept. 6, 2019. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA -- The estimated cost of Canada’s incoming fleet of advanced stealth fighters exploded by nearly 50 per cent in just a few years, auditor general Karen Hogan said Tuesday.

The fighter jet audit was one of eight tabled in the House of Commons by Hogan and federal Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco.

The reports flag problematic procurement contracts, a backlog in applications for First Nations status and a delay in reducing the amount of federal office space.

An investigation by the auditor general concluded that costs associated with the F-35 advanced fighter jet program are running $8.7 billion higher than the original estimates.

It warns the program is plagued by delays and critical shortfalls -- including a lack of qualified pilots.

National Defence said in 2022 the base price for the F-35s would be $19 billion. Just two years later, the number had climbed to $27.7 billion.

The costs will rise further by at least $5.5 billion, the report warns, because of missing elements needed to make the jets fully operational, such as missiles.

The report said the department’s initial estimates relied on outdated data from 2019 -- despite the availability of better estimates showing “that costs of the aircraft had already increased substantially” during the pandemic.

Opposition MPs used the eight reports as political ammunition and fired off shots at cabinet ministers who were around in the last government.

At a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre charged it’s all evidence of “Liberal incompetence” and “waste.”

“It is the same Liberal ministers, the same Liberal gang making the same Liberal mistakes that cost Canadians a fortune,” he said.

Interim NDP Leader Don Davies meanwhile said the F-35 audit reveals a “boondoggle” that was incompetently managed, and said it’s time to take a second look at alternatives.

“The price is double. We don’t have enough pilots for them. We don’t have hangar space for them. And it risks integrating (us) more closely into the American military at a time when Prime Minister Carney campaigned against that very thing,” he said.

Defence Minister David McGuinty said dozens of other NATO allies experienced the same problems with ballooning costs for the jets -- largely caused by the pandemic affecting supply chains.

“Obviously, we’ve seen an inflationary pressure on materials, logistical chains, supplies, construction, engineering,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Not only was Canada deeply affected by the pandemic, and the United States, but every participating NATO partner has had to contend with the forces that the pandemic played on the entire acquisition and development of the F-35.”

Hogan acknowledged Ottawa had little control over those sorts of factors.

But she said other elements that are pushing up the price and preventing the jets from being put into service were “well within the government’s control.” They include delays in building secure facilities to house the aircraft and a failure to train enough pilots -- something Hogan warned the government about more than six years ago.

“This is a really long project, and in order to be ready to receive those planes, something needs to happen to fill the gap for trained pilots and to have the infrastructure ready,” Hogan told a Tuesday press conference. “Right now, the interim measures are only going to see additional costs.”

Two new fighter squadron facilities being constructed in Cold Lake, Alta., and Bagotville, Que., will not be ready until at least 2031 because the department needs to “redo important elements” of their design, the report said.

The department started planning the new facilities in 2020 before the government settled on the F-35 jets, which come with significant infrastructure security requirements.

The report lands in the middle of an active review ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney to examine possible alternatives to the F-35. He ordered the review soon after U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war with Canada.

McGuinty said his department has made clear it will make the results of its review public some time during the summer months.

Stephen Saideman, director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network, said the audit is raising the political salience of the program’s review -- but is unlikely to have any bearing on the final outcome.

“This coming out now is going to make the government have to do a song and dance about it one way or the other, but I don’t think changing the price is going to make a difference in terms of the decision we make,” he said.

“If I had to hazard a guess, they’ll go with (the F-35) despite all the rest because it’s a bet on the United States democracy ultimately working and that at some point Donald Trump will be replaced by somebody who is less hostile to allies.”

Saideman said it’s not necessarily a bad thing that program costs are ballooning just when Canada is desperately trying to rapidly hike its military spending to appease frustrated allies.

The Liberal government announced in 2017 it planned to purchase 88 new fighter jets and in 2023 signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the F-35s.

The modern jets are needed to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet, which is nearing the end of its service life. The fighter jets are expected to be delivered between 2026 and 2032.

The audit also pointed out that the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office conducted assessments which found “insufficient departmental engineering personnel to service support equipment for both the CF-18 Hornet and CF-35A during the transition.”

One of the other reports tabled Tuesday examined claims that federal organizations disregarded procurement rules when awarding contracts to GCStrategies, the Ottawa-based IT firm behind the problem-plagued ArriveCan app that erupted in scandal after the pandemic.

Another report released Tuesday said Ottawa is managing the First Nations status registration process poorly, leaving people waiting far too long to learn their status -- a delay that can prevent them from accessing key services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 10, 2025.

By Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press