Certainly, we have seen testimony in the United States where there was one estimate that the cost of operating the F-35 would be more than the cost of operating the CF-18, simply because of the technical sophistication. I don't know specifically, and I think that's again something that National Defence needs to explain, but there are some estimates that would indicate that the F-35 could be more costly to operate.
On April 26th, 2012. See this statement in context.