The review of the F-35 drags on, but the decision that follows belongs to one person: the Prime Minister. With Trump 2.0 and the myriad of factors at play, how the F-35 file unfolds is directly linked to the defence of Canada and our future contributions to allies for decades to come — capability built on 5th generation fighters and the F-35.

Everyone has an opinion on the future fighter. As 1 of 4 Canadians who has ever flown a 5^th Generation fighter, I have always been amazed at how many Canadians speak with such conviction about capabilities that they know nothing about. Yet virtually no one outside the military has received the highly classified briefings on the threats facing Canada and the continent, or on how 4th and 5th Gen fighters would fare against our major adversaries, China and Russia. And the military officials who have that access don’t brief the PM directly.

Mark Carney is the smartest man in the room, period – and he needs to hear that intelligence firsthand, at the level of a SAP (Special Access Program) briefing – raw data, not staffers’ or ministers’ interpretation of what a 4th Gen fighter can do against a 5th, soon 6th generation threat. As a leader who commanded in combat, I needed truth data — not filtered, subjective conjecture about my capabilities to win.

The PM will make his decision based on what he judges best for Canada’s defence now and in the future. I can’t say what’s discussed in those SAP-level briefings, but I can assure you that the Prime Minister will be far better informed on the critical question of military capability — and how it all integrates into the Canadian Armed Forces’ future structure — when he hears it directly from the experts who have access to that data. He won’t get that same fidelity anywhere else.

Give Mark Carney truth data, not the marketing hype, and let him make the call. This decision will have a generational effect on the fighter force, RCAF structure, and the Canadian Armed Forces’ capability to defend Canada at home and abroad. He doesn’t need filters. He needs it all, firsthand, before he decides.