Following its victory in the 1993 election, the first act of Jean Chretien's Liberal Party was the cancellation of an order to replace the Sea King maritime helicopter. The Liberals claimed the Tory plan was too expensive, but the cancellation itself actually cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The incident and subsequent attempts to replace the Sea King have drawn public attention to inefficiency and waste in Canada's defence spending and to the under-equipped state of its military.

Seeking an explanation for this situation, Aaron Plamondon explores the history of the...