F-35 could crash Tories’ spending plans

Some would describe it as the battle of the bean-counters.

But the long-standing disagreement between National Defence and the auditor general over whether the salaries of soldiers and other operational expenses should be included in the cost estimate for F-35 fighter jets and other purchases threatens to blow the roof off the Harper government’s carefully orchestrated military spending plans.

The Conservative wish list of defence purchases, including the controversial F-35 stealth fighter, was expected to cost taxpayers $115 billion over the next 16 years, according to internal documents obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information laws.

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