Ottawa is “very interested” in Swedish defence giant Saab’s offer of its Gripen fighter jets, but it needs “more details” on how Canada can benefit from the deal, Industry Minister Melanie Joly says.
Joly’s comments come as Canada’s plan to replace its ageing fleet of fighter jets with F-35s from American defence firm Lockheed Martin is on pause pending a federal review, and amid growing hesitation over deepening Canada’s reliance on the U.S.
“We need to have more details about it because we need to be able to do the analysis of how much we could benefit from it. But we’ll continue the conversations for sure,” Joly said at a joint event with Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba-Elisabeth Busch.
Saab’s offer of the fighter jets would create 10,000 jobs in Canada, Joly had said Tuesday.
Sweden could prove to be a “trustworthy” partner for Canada, Busch said at Wednesday’s event.
“You’ll meet some countries that sell their product by saying — and I’m not going to name any names — ‘We’re the biggest, we’re the best.’ And then you meet Sweden, and we say, ‘We’re smaller, but we’re smarter,’” she said.“We have some truly high-quality products. We know what we are selling and we’re trustworthy. If you make a deal with a Swede, then that will really, really last,” she added.
Joly said shifting geopolitics have shown Canada that the country took its “friends for granted.”
“We took our friends for granted. We thought that the rules as they were developed would be followed and we would continue to do business. And bit by bit, geopolitics became more complicated,” she said.
Joly said Canada’s efforts will be to build in Canada, but “If we can’t build, we will partner.”
“We think that there can be great co-operation between, for example, Saab and (Canadian aircraft manufacturer) Bombardier,” she said.
Canada is seeking a broader economic partnership with Sweden, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said speaking later in the day.