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U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Canada is warning of consequences to the continental defence pact if Canada does not move forward with the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets.
“NORAD would have to be altered,” U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told CBC News in an exclusive interview at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
He says the United States would likely need to purchase more of the advanced fighter aircraft for its own air force, and would fly them more often into Canadian airspace to address threats approaching the U.S.
“If Canada is no longer going to provide that [capability], then we have to fill those gaps,” said Hoekstra.
The North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) is a decades-old partnership between Canada and the United States which tracks inbound threats and scrambles armed jets to intercept where appropriate.
Royal Canadian Air Force Col. Travis Morehen is seen in the NORAD command centre in Colorado in May 2018. (Dan Elliott/The Associated Press)
It allows the closest aircraft to respond, and there have been multiple recent instances where the U.S. military has flown into Canada.
In September, American F-15s responded near Calgary after a bomb threat on a German airliner. Two years earlier, an American F-22 shot down a suspicious cylindrical balloon floating over Yukon.
Ambassador Hoekstra describes the current defence relationship as “awesome,” but says such interventions by the U.S. military over Canada would increase if Canada does not increase its purchase of F-35s beyond the 16 currently on order.
Hoekstra’s remarks were met with caution by some.
Pete Hoekstra, U.S. ambassador to Canada, is warning of consequences to the continental defence pact if Canada does not move forward with the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets. (CBC)
“Public sniping only benefits our adversaries and risks undermining the credibility of our shared deterrence,” Andrea Charron told CBC News. Charron is the director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, and one of Canada’s top analytical voices on NORAD.
“Political disputes come and go,” she said, “NORAD’s mission does not.”
If the Carney government were to order the Swedish-built Gripen fighter jet, as it is considering, the ambassador says the arrangement with NORAD would still have to be rethought.
WATCH | The F-35 versus the Gripen:
Weighing Canada’s fighter jet options: F-35 vs Gripen
With the future of Canada’s fighter jet fleet being re-examined, CBC’s Murray Brewster breaks down the differences between the American F-35 and Sweden’s Gripen.
“If they decide,” Hoekstra said, “they’re going with an inferior product that is not as interchangeable, interoperable as what the F-35 is, that changes our defence capability. And as such, we have to figure out how we’re going to replace that.”
The American-built F-35 fighter jet dominated its Swedish rival in terms of technical and military capabilities during a competition held by the Defence Department in 2021.
A former top Canadian national security official described the ambassador’s remarks as “clearly a political pressure tactic to force the Canadian government’s hand.”
Vincent Rigby served most recently as national security adviser to the Justin Trudeau government and served for more than 30 years in diplomatic and military portfolios.
“This is another off-the-cuff remark by the ambassador,” Rigby said. “It can’t be ignored but neither should it be taken as gospel truth from either the administration or the Pentagon.”
Denmark worries U.S. could ground F-35 fleet
At least one nation is regretting its purchase of F-35s. Denmark has been embroiled in a dispute with the Trump administration over the president’s push to own Greenland. The small European country even deployed those jets to the Arctic island over the threats.
Rasmus Jarlov, head of the Danish parliament’s defence committee, has described “second thoughts” over the order, but says the country has little choice now that it is their only operational fighter aircraft.
Jarlov has a message for Canada: “choose another fighter jet.”
A campaign poster for Rasmus Jarlov is seen in Copenhagen in September 2011. (Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)
“They’re in for repairs about half the time or even more,” he said, “so the Americans have all the power of actually destroying our air force just by shutting down [parts] supplies.”
Pollster Ekos Politics surveyed Canadians in December on the F-35 and found 72 per cent support incorporating Sweden’s Gripen into Canada’s fighter fleet, either by switching to the aircraft for all future purchases or by maintaining a mixed fleet of both Gripens and F-35s.
Having both aircraft has implications for Canada’s already-stretched air force, which would need to maintain two sets of facilities, pilots and mechanics on a mixed fleet.
Rigby said the Gripen “is a highly proficient aircraft used by some of our NATO allies” and works well in Arctic conditions. Whereas the F-35 “would allow for easier and greater interoperability with the U.S. Air Force — an important consideration both in NORAD and overseas operations.”
CBC News asked the U.S. ambassador whether he recognized the political implications of the Canadian government choosing the F-35 when many Canadians see the United States itself as a threat, amidst Trump’s recent and repeated talk of the “51st state” and annexing Greenland.
“That’s crazy. We’re not a threat,” said Hoekstra.
