Ottawa is “very interested” in Swedish defence giant Saab’s offer of its Gripen fighter jets, but it needs “more details” on how Canada can benefit from the deal, Industry Minister Melanie Joly says.
Joly’s comments come as Canada’s plan to replace its ageing fleet of fighter jets with F-35s from American defence firm Lockheed Martin is on pause pending a federal review, and amid growing hesitation over deepening Canada’s reliance on the U.S.
“We need to have more details about it because we need to be able to do the analysis of how much we could benefit from it. But we’ll continue the conversations for sure,” Joly said at a joint event with Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba-Elisabeth Busch.
Saab’s offer of the fighter jets would create 10,000 jobs in Canada, Joly had said Tuesday.
Sweden could prove to be a “trustworthy” partner for Canada, Busch said at Wednesday’s event.
“You’ll meet some countries that sell their product by saying — and I’m not going to name any names — ‘We’re the biggest, we’re the best.’ And then you meet Sweden, and we say, ‘We’re smaller, but we’re smarter,’” she said.
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“We have some truly high-quality products. We know what we are selling and we’re trustworthy. If you make a deal with a Swede, then that will really, really last,” she added.
Joly said shifting geopolitics have shown Canada that the country took its “friends for granted.”
“We took our friends for granted. We thought that the rules as they were developed would be followed and we would continue to do business. And bit by bit, geopolitics became more complicated,” she said.
Joly said Canada’s efforts will be to build in Canada, but “If we can’t build, we will partner.”
“We think that there can be great co-operation between, for example, Saab and (Canadian aircraft manufacturer) Bombardier,” she said.
On Tuesday, Joly told reporters in Ottawa that Canada was “interested” in the Gripen and that it “didn’t get enough” out of the F-35 fighter jet deals from American firm Lockheed Martin.
“We’re looking at both at the same time,” Joly told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
“I don’t believe that we’ve had enough jobs created and industrial benefits done out of the F-35 contract. I think it’s not enough. I think Canadians expect more and we should get more,” she said.
Joly said Saab’s offer to create 10,000 new jobs in Canada was “indeed a very interesting offer,” while negotiations with Lockheed Martin continue.
With increased demands on the Canadian military and the geopolitical risks highlighted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pressure has continued to mount on the government to speed up procurement in the process to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets.
That process has been underway for more than 20 years.
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