Delays won�t ground Sea King program

I say cancel the deal and go back to the Augusta Westlands EH101 (CH149) Cormorants that we were SUPPOSED to already have in the air! In 1993, the government of the day (PC's) ordered 43 Cormorants at a cost of $4.8B CDN (1993 dollars and NOT including the $700M cancellation penalty) to replace the Sea Crashes, I mean Sea Kings. The LIE-berals, I mean Liberals, come to power, axe the deal, don't replace them with an order until 2004 for a helicopter platform that DOESN'T EVEN EXIST YET and an unrealistic delivery date! So, we now get 28 choppers for a little over $5B CDN; that's in 2008 dolloars (not including the extra $500M that Sikorsky says it now needs for the new technology engines despite the fact that they agreed to a "fixed contract price"). Delivery was scheduled for 2009 but we'll be lucky if we see airframes flying of the decks of our aging DDH's and frigates until 2013! So, meantime, we'll spend $80M CDN per year so that our Sea Crashes can spend 30 hours of maintenance for every one hour in the air. That is, of course, if they don't crash despite the expertise of the brave Canadian service men and women that fly in them. Mr. Prime Minister, PLEASE axe Sikorsky's deal, assess them the penalties for their current delays and get us the new choppers NOW! It can be done, afterall, we got CC177's (C17's)out of the USAF production run. NEW CHOPPERS NOW! STOP SCREWING AROUND!