The Canadian Snowbirds fly during the Fleet Week Air Show in San Francisco, on Oct. 10, 2025.Godofredo A. Vásquez/The Associated Press
Temporarily grounding Canada’s iconic Snowbirds may be required to ensure the aging planes don’t weigh on broader military operations, says a former chief of defence staff.
Tom Lawson, also a former fighter pilot, offered his view ahead of Defence Minister David McGuinty’s planned Tuesday announcement on the fate of the aerobatic flying unit known for its red-and-white jets.
For over 50 years, the Snowbirds have engaged audiences with their precision flights and multi-plane formations, but questions have long been raised about the aging 1960s-era CT-114 Tutor jets that the team uses.
The Snowbirds’ 2026 season is scheduled to start on May 24 in Montreal. Before it ends on Oct. 11, the team will be flying across North America, making stops in six provinces, as well as in Missouri, California, Ohio and New York.
“If the Minister announces a pause in Snowbird operations, I expect it would be temporary with a clear path to relaunch the team on a new platform,” Mr. Lawson, the chief of defence staff from 2012 to 2015, wrote in an e-mail exchange.
The CT-114 Tutor fleet are used exclusively by the Snowbirds.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The defence department and the minister have said little about the future of the Snowbirds in advance of Mr. McGuinty’s news conference at the 15 Wing Moose Jaw base in Saskatchewan where the Snowbirds are based.
During a news conference in Qatar last week, the minister declined to be more specific about what’s ahead, but he suggested the fate of the Snowbirds has been the subject of considerable thought.
“It’s something that we’re examining closely. We have been looking at it for a little while,” the minister said, adding that the air force will also have something to say about the unit.
“This is an iconic fleet for Canada, one that we’re very supportive of, and we need to make sure we get this right for Canadians.”
Bill Blair, Mr. McGuinty’s predecessor as defence minister, asked the air force in 2024 to determine whether the Snowbirds’ jets, once the primary training jets for the air force, were too old to continue flying.
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds fly past the Toronto skyline on May 10, 2020. The Snowbirds’ 2026 season is scheduled to start on May 24 in Montreal.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Mr. Lawson acknowledged that continuing operations of the Tutor fleet beyond 2026 would delight many Canadians, but said keeping the jets active may not be in the best interest of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
“It would place an increasingly heavy burden on the RCAF at a time when our combat-ready forces are already stretched thin,” said Mr. Lawson, who trained on the Tutors.
The CT-114 Tutor fleet is now an “orphan fleet,” he noted, with a handful of remaining aircraft, which are used exclusively by the Snowbirds. Demanding training is required of the pilots and technicians pulled from other squadrons to use and maintain the jets.
“Twenty years ago, when the Tutor was the backbone of all RCAF pilot training, supporting the Snowbirds was far more straightforward,” he wrote.
But that is no longer the case, said Mr. Lawson, noting that the diversion of skilled people to work with the aircraft has an impact on operational squadrons. He stressed that the primary mission of the armed forces is to provide combat-ready forces for the protection of Canadians and Canadian interests abroad.
The issue of the Snowbirds’ aging fleet has been cropping up in the House of Commons and the Senate for some time, with the Conservatives alleging the federal Liberal government is planning to ground the Snowbirds.
The Conservatives have also taken issue with a lack of clarity on the future of the Snowbirds.
Fraser Tolmie, the Conservative MP for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan and a former mayor of Moose Jaw, said the Snowbirds are a vital national symbol that must be preserved given challenges to Canadian sovereignty.
“The Snowbirds are an iconic symbol of Canada, along with the RCMP Musical Ride,” he said in an interview.
He said the Snowbirds need new jets, possibly bought off the shelf for the unit, as well as fighter-pilot training.
Mr. McGuinty has previously said that Canadians will be able to enjoy the Snowbirds for “generations to come.”
The situation has also drawn attention beyond Parliament Hill.
Moose Jaw Mayor James Murdock said in a statement that the Snowbirds have had a long, meaningful connection with his community.
“We hope it continues uninterrupted for generations to come,” said the statement issued by the mayor’s office.