Harper Government assures Canadians that F-35 costs are low.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has released a report claiming that the lifetime costs the new F-35 fighter jet purchase by the Harper Government, is going to be $30 billion rather than the $18 billion originally estimated.

The Harper Government is standing behind its original estimate of cost. These cost estimates were originally created by a non-partisan group of industry insiders working for the U.S. Pentagon. We also saved an incredible amount of money by having the Pentagon create the specification and perform the whole bid process on our behalf.

Jay Paxton, Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s director of communications, said “Department of National Defence procurement experts stand by their cost projections,"

The head of DND was reached exiting an Ontario Work office, and talking on his cell phone with Munir Sheikh, but offered no comment.