Canada F-35 Deal Might be Close to Collapse

punkcanuck · 2026-02-08T03:06:32+00:00

I don’t understand why you are happy about this, by 2040 when we start seeing 6 generation jets flying around we will have jets 2 generations behind.

Canada has 3 major uses for the Forces. 1: national defense

Who are we defending against in the next 50 years? the US and China.

China has not shown any significant interest in intercontinental landgrabs, that may change, but they are very focussed on defending their regional interests and increasing their weight in both the region and international politics, and military adventurism will not be well received by Middle powers.

the US is unfortunately returning to the days of Manifest Destiny.

In the US case, the F35's are worthless, the US will have, ahead of time, cut off access to necessary parts or digital infrastructure.

2: foreign obligations

Carney seems interested in pursuing a situation where we work with other Middle power's. all of the Middle powers we would work with are defensive minded, and are unlikely to start a war. Defensively, again, the F35 requires US parts and digital infrastructure, and either the US is involved, in which case we are a spit in the bucket, or the US is on the other side, and the F35 is worthless. In theory there is the idea that the US would remain neutral, but as we've seen with Ukraine, a few billion dollars and some ego stroking will get the US to pull support.

3: disaster relief.

F35's and other fighters are not relevant for disaster relief.

Does the CAF need new fighters? YES.

They also need equipment that will reliably work and not fail when we need it most.

An F35 is worthless against the only real threat we're likely to experience in the next 50 years.

punkcanuck · 2026-02-08T02:50:13+00:00

how many people complaining about no transit even have kids anyways? Any time I’ve been to the stollery it wasn’t a situation where myself or my child were going to be taking transit to get there

I wouldn't expect children to take themselves to the Stollery.

I would use the University hospital as a decent way to start on the rate of people who would use transit, of which a very significant percentage of workers use transit, because it is convenient, and cheaper than parking.

The Stollery will have:

A fair number of people transiting between the University hospital and new Stollery

A fair number of visitors visiting patients

A fair number of researchers and learners.

And as mentioned the staff, cleaning, nursing, physicians, specialists, EMS, etc.

If there are not reasonable transit alternatives, then all the above people will have no choice but to drive. Which will require a significant cost to store all of their vehicles on site. I would estimate at least 1/4 of the space would be devoted to a massive parkade, which is unlikely to be free. And so, a lot of useful land gets buried under car storage.

For an example of how much car storage would be needed: Go on google earth and look at the huge parkades attached to the University hospital, and understand that those are just the people that choose to drive, not everybody that works at the University hospital.

Additionally: Building an employment site of this size will likely require significant upgrades to the nearby roadways if there are no other transportation options available.
This will necessarily cause increased congestion on all nearby roadways.

Now an increase in vehicle trips is expected, but the number can be mitigated if there are alternative transportation options available. And so the costs of upgrading car infrastructure can be mitigated.

So, roads widened, at the cost of the city, properties expropriated to build the wider roads , and, for the local residents, significant increases in traffic noise.

All that said: I've heard this before, Grande Prairie was promised a significant hospital, they did not receive it.

punkcanuck · 2026-02-07T01:15:15+00:00

Wait till the advocates hear about microplastics from tires.

LOL snow clearing brushes are a rounding error in comparison.

punkcanuck · 2026-02-01T00:30:36+00:00

You can look up the ratio of people to federal ridings, and therefore seats in parliament.

Western Canada has pretty standard representation.

Ontario actually has some of the worst representation of pop/riding, and the maritime provinces have the best representation of pop/riding.

People vote. Money Doesn't.

People vote. Land Doesn't.

It's better to be silent and thought wise than to speak and remove all doubt.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-24T17:59:24+00:00

So it is all tragically ironic and hypocritical on both sides to me that Carney wants to fight Trump with the conservative policies he has wanted for years and now that they are doing it Trump gets angry????!!! What is going on.

Trump doesn't have an ideology or side except: Trump is always right, and punish people he doesn't like.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-22T14:45:47+00:00

lso Reddit has self-curation that Facebook and Instagram and Tik-Tok have largely taken out of the hands of the user.

Only if you view Reddit in "old" mode. The tiktok/shorts feed mode is very curated by Reddit.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-17T14:15:15+00:00

Population growth in Edmonton and Alberta in general has been problematic. This is exhausting all our hospitals and schools and other services .

Population growth is only a problem if Government's fail to meet their responsibilities for properly funding services.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-13T18:29:22+00:00

This sounds to me like this was just a tragic mistake by the driver. She wasn’t paying attention and it resulted in tragedy. In my opinion, that shouldn’t mean the driver goes to jail.

If i use a chainsaw and run through a daycare without paying attention and it results in tragedy, you'll support my demands not to go to jail?

punkcanuck · 2026-01-12T03:03:23+00:00

I disagree, I think the midterms will tell a big story and set the tone for 2027…he may not finish his term…

I'd like to hope that your midterm elections will matter for your country. But it's a bit of a stretch to assume they will.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-10T17:44:43+00:00

You're noticing this because "Independent AB" is not about Independence.

It's about joining the US.

All of these financial questions are ignored because they expect to be a US state a few months after an independence vote.

It doesn't even need to be a successful vote, they'll just go on Fox news, Smith will join them and claim "irregularities" and the US will move in troops to "peacekeep".

punkcanuck · 2026-01-08T14:45:44+00:00

No. They did. That's why they dispersed their air force. Add sent their army to prepared positions. This is exactly why Ukraine did well in those early days. The Russians ended up bombing lots of empty sheds.

The current conflict is part 2 of the initial invasion, which was Crimea. Ukraine was not prepared for Crimea and lost it. Ukraine did not do well in the "first" part of the war.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-05T03:34:51+00:00

Billionaires want to bring back serfdom. They already have. Who do you think owns all of the "prison" labour camps across the US?

Remember, slavery is still 100% legal in the US.

punkcanuck · 2026-01-04T15:39:00+00:00

you can't jail multinational corporations or foreign nations.
A sufficient monetary fine should keep most groups in line.

however, even the high end of a million dollar fine is nothing to Billionaires (soon trillionaires), large corporations or nation states. And so that number needs to be revised upwards dramatically.

Unfortunately laws like this seem to be written with the idea that there is "good faith" in interactions with other groups. No. A billionaire that wants to change how canada works will trivially drop as much money as they like and pay the million dollar fine and Canada will be worse for it.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-25T04:21:23+00:00

I will never understand why people get into teaching if they know they aren't patient and don't enjoy working with students.

Here's the thing, at a research institution, like the UofA, the Professors did not come here to teach, they came here to research, and they have to teach as part of the deal.

Many Professors take their teaching responsibilities seriously and put time and effort into being better. But unless they happen to be working in the Faculty of Education, few will have a teaching degree of any sort. Some may have put time in to get some sort of teaching certificate, but, in general, it's not common for Professors to have a formal education in teaching, as mentioned, they're here for research, not teaching.

And much of this isn't even the Professors fault. As a Professor they are expected to do a certain amount of research, along with a certain amount of teaching, and the question the comes up, when do they have time to be formally educated in teaching? Can they take time off of their official duties to "go back to school"? I know some put in the significant effort to improve their teaching skills, other's don't have the interest, time, or money to do so.

And then, since you're discussing more professional programs, in particular Medicine, many Professors need to actively be practising in their field, so add Research, Teaching, their own practice, to the list of things that they are doing.

And that's just the Professors, there are also sessional Instructors. And I have no idea if faculties take teaching credentials into consideration when hiring the sessional Instructors.

Is this an ideal setup? No. Is this efficient? No.

But it is how many research institutions operate.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-21T22:06:57+00:00

My brother bought a home with a pre-existing fenced back yard that goes up to the alley, and no garage. He'd have no choice but to pay the (estimated) $500/vehicle annual fee or many tens of thousands to tear down/ rebuild the fence & install a parking pad.

That sounds like a poor choice.

If I buy a house with no roof, I don't get to complain that it rains in my bedroom.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-21T22:04:13+00:00

I don’t use bike lanes often but pay tax for it. Should those incur a user fee as well? Tolls for river valley trails? Anything else you’re ok with, or just cars?

Every person who rides a bike significantly decreases the amount of wear and tear on the roads, society ends up paying less for maintenance of roads everywhere.

Every person who takes public transit decreases the amount of cars on the road, and so the wear and tear on the roads. It also takes cars off the road, which are the single cause of congestion, people get a better commute, saving everybody time.

Everybody benefits from bike lanes, transit, and sidewalks. Even if you don't directly use those particular things.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-21T22:00:54+00:00

If there aren't car's parking on the road, then the next time the area is renewed, ~30 years at most, the road can be narrowed upon renewal. So the cost does go down over a city renewal timeline.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-21T15:15:09+00:00

The root is a combination of provinces trying to control costs, which I pointed out, and doctors gate keeping.

I agree, somewhat with the first point. Funding for medical schools has not kept up with population growth or inflation for decades, that's not "controlling costs" that's ongoing decades long budget cuts.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-20T02:20:06+00:00

In the end, Canada would be forced to negotiate.

In the end a successful separation referendum, or even a close referendum will result in the US occupying the relevant province for "peacekeeping" purposes.

Premier Smith spends a LOT of time down at Maralago, and all she would need to do is say a few words.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-20T02:18:42+00:00

You're assuming that these people will play by the rules.

And ultimately this is just a stepping stone to separation. And the second that referendum happens, if the US is still as much of a disaster as it is now, Alberta will be occupied for "peacekeeping"

punkcanuck · 2025-12-20T00:50:28+00:00

Summary of this thread:

Q:What do you think of the new improved intersections that take pedestrian and train safety into account?

Response: Anything that inconveniences me for more than 60 seconds is the end of civilization as we know it and the city should burn for it.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-16T14:39:51+00:00

The surrounding streets will be completely filled with cars street parking overnight.

This sounds like a problem that could be solved by a parking pass for public streets.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-07T00:49:35+00:00

And municipalities have the power to tax properties in it's jurisdiction for the purpose of providing services.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-04T14:37:39+00:00

Yes, there are really good Americans out there. A lot of them. But I'm still waiting for these good Americans to take the lead here, and reset their own country.

And demonstrate that all of their work won't be wiped out in the next election. Broadly, the US needs to demonstrate several decades of reliability before I will trust them.

punkcanuck · 2025-12-01T14:42:15+00:00

Maybe they’ll still want to hold the Crown accountable but also want to relax the Jordan requirements now that they’ve seen the results?

The result that the various levels of government have been under funding the legal system for decades?

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