Defence Minister David McGuinty speaks with Canadian Forces members at Tuesday's press conference in Moose Jaw, Sask., about the future of the Snowbirds, who will be grounded for several years as they await replacement aircraft.Liam Richards/The Canadian Press
The red and white planes of the Snowbirds aerobatic team are a soaring symbol of Canada. Unfortunately, the grounding of those aircraft and the suspension of the team is also richly symbolic – of a country unable to invest decisively and proactively in its military.
The government announced that the Snowbirds will perform for the last time this summer, until replacement aircraft arrive in the early 2030s. That means a minimum of four Canada Day celebrations without these familiar jets flying overhead. And possibly many more, if Canada’s track record on military procurement is anything to go by.
Whether it’s submarines or fighter jets, Canada’s military has too often been left to muddle along with old equipment while politicians debate endlessly how to replace their hardware. It’s a lack of urgency glaringly at odds with the current reality, as Canada faces foreign threats while being uncertain about the strength of the historic defence alliance with the United States.
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In this context, the fate of an aerial performance squad may seem minor. But if even the most visible part of the military is shortchanged, Canadians can be forgiven for worrying about what is happening away from the public’s gaze.
The fate of the Snowbirds is particularly galling since the need to retire the aging fleet – which has been used by the team for aerial stunts since 1971 – has long been forecast. For more than two decades, the military has been urging replacements for the planes. But successive governments, in a familiar pattern of kicking the can down the road, delayed instead of acting with appropriate dispatch.
In 2003, when Jean Chretien was prime minister, the military warned that the planes would reach the end of their life expectancy by 2010, though they could be extended a decade if absolutely necessary. In 2006, air force officers suggested using CF-18s for stunts. In 2009, the Czech military tried to sell Canada used fighter jets for the Snowbirds.
The Snowbirds fly past Parliament Hill during Canada Day celebrations in 2025.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
In 2012, according to the Ottawa Citizen, then prime minister Stephen Harper rejected a $755-million proposal from the military for new Snowbirds planes. The paper also reported last week on a 2019 military briefing document obtained under access to information legislation that laid out scenarios for replacing the Snowbirds’ planes or reducing the size of the fleet. The options were rejected for reasons not spelled out.
Fast forward to 2021, when a government led by Justin Trudeau approved $30-million to keep the Snowbirds’ planes going. The money was intended to keep the aircraft flying until 2030, work that was still being carried out.
Air force commander Lieutenant-General Jamie Speiser-Blanchet told reporters this week that the fleet was upgraded in 2005, 2010 and 2020 and that work to extend its life to 2030 was under way. But, she said, studies found engineering challenges, leading to the planes being grounded.
It remains to be seen how soon Canadians will see the Snowbirds take flight again. Their replacement will be a Swiss plane given the Canadian name CT-157 Siskin II, a model that was being ordered already as a trainer. The federal government said vaguely it will take until next decade for the new Snowbird planes to arrive, and that it “will ultimately rebuild to the team’s distinctive nine-plane formation.”
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It’s also unclear how long it will take the team to reach their current proficiency in the new planes, which will be turbo-props rather than jets. Defence Minister David McGuinty said that in the meantime the Royal Canadian Air Force will “continue supporting” air shows, without saying exactly how the air force would do so.
The Snowbirds pilots will continue to fly military planes in the interim but the skill required to perform aerial stunts is not one that can be set aside for a few years and then easily resumed.
The lesson that it’s easier to maintain a capability than to rebuild one is relevant also to the broader expansion the military is undergoing. While a Trump administration official made clear the peevish reason behind suspending a Canada-U.S. military co-operation effort, linking it to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech in Davos, his broader point that Canada has let its military degrade is not wrong.
A strong military requires personnel and equipment, funding and cross-party political support. It requires actions, not just words. But it also requires unifying symbols. The Snowbirds were one such symbol, but unfortunately have now become a symbol of failure. The sooner they’re back in the air the better.