Madam Speaker, I have two petitions today.
It is a privilege to table e-petition 3433, with 1,139 signatures from Canadians across the country.
The petitioners are concerned about the government's plan to purchase 88 new fighter jets for a cost of $19 billion, with an estimated full life-cycle cost of $76.8 billion. They note that this purchase will divert funding from other critical areas and that these jets are weapons of aggression rather than defence. They also note that the Department of National Defence is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases among all federal departments, but that operations are exempt from the federal government's GHG emission reduction plan.
The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to cancel the $19-billion competition to purchase the 88 new combat aircraft; include all the carbon emissions from the Department of National Defence’s military vehicles and operations in the federal government’s GHG emission reduction plan and net-zero plan; and invest in a conversion plan that will create thousands of jobs in the green economy and the care economy to help transition Canada away from fossil fuels, and that will be enforced.