Tories take heat for unreliable C-17s

[daleo]

OTTAWA — Three of the military's four new C-17 cargo planes are out of service – including one broken down in Thailand after transporting aid for Myanmar – and this lack of spare heavy lift has critics questioning why the Harper government spent $3.4-billion on the aircraft instead of renting them when needed.

The Conservatives hammered the former Liberal government for not purchasing heavy-lifting planes. After taking power, the Tories bought C-17s and declared this would end reliance on third-party transport, saying in 2007 it would “allow us to quickly deploy equipment, supplies or passengers when and where needed around the world, and without having to rely on our allies or contractors.”

But the Department of National Defence was forced to rely on contractors this week, renting a Russian Antonov heavy lifter after it was unable to deliver on an unexpected public pledge by Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier to ship helicopters to Thailand.
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All four C-17s are currently unavailable, two of them because they've broken down. One is in Bangkok in need of repairs, one is at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario awaiting parts before it can be fixed, another is in Texas being fitted with extra gear, and the fourth is supplying Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080523.wplane24/BNStory/National/home
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The real story here is that they are too busy being used for war making to help in a humanitarian effort.