Should Canada buy the F-22 Raptor, the best air-to-air combat fighter ever built?

It is probably neither rational nor feasible for the Canadian government to buy F-22 Raptor. For one thing, even though in Canada, defense is the single largest area of discretionary spending for the government and, consequently, capital spending for defense is frequently used to promote various political, social and economic interests relevant to industrial and regional development (Stone & Solomon, 2005); F-22 Raptor is wholly produced in the U. S., and hence buying it will have very little effect on Canadian industrial and regional development.

Also, the Canadian government has traditionally shown reluctance to spend significant amount of funds on defense (Stone & Solomon, 2005). This is largely due to the fact that the Canadian public has little concern for national defense, and when given a choice between increased spending on defense and an important social program, such as health care or education, it is nearly guaranteed to choose the latter over the former. Consequently, Canadian defense spending is always based on what the government thinks it can afford, and not underfund various social programs, rather than on what defense policy analysts might suggest (Stone & Solomon, 2005).

Finally, even though the Canadian Forces, historically, did not devote a desired level of funding to capital (Stone & Solomon, 2005); lately the Canadian government started to seriously consider making a large, and consequently, controversial investment into the future capital of its Air Force, namely the F-35s. Thus, it is highly unlikely that the Canadian government will even entertain the idea of making any additional investments into the capital of its Air Force.

References

Stone, J. C., & Solomon, B. (2005). Canadian Defence Policy and Spending. Defence and Peace Economics, 16(3), 145-169.