If Canada has to defend itself from the US, it will be apocalyptic. I don't think it will matter much whose planes they have. So I'd expect that the most impor

If Canada has to defend itself from the US, it will be apocalyptic. I don't think it will matter much whose planes they have. So I'd expect that the most important consideration would be joint operations with other NATO countries, against other enemies. Which does include the US at this point, but could also include the various threats that pop up, like Afghanistan. They are also part of a continual patrol against Russian and Chinese fighters -- which will also become apocalyptic if it proceeds to an actual fight, so they need a capable fighter in the hopes that the mutually-assured-destruction will stave that off.