The F/A 18E is a dated airplane that is going to stop being produced because everyone is going with the F-35. Single fleet operations for most allies means cheap single vendor aircraft, and it won't be the F/A 18E, as much as you would like it to be. By that argument, we would be much better off with the Eurofighter than the F/A 18E because it is part of the new generation of fighters and will have a longer airframe life and support cycle.
It seems to me, that we lost a lot of F-18's with two engines to accidents over the years as well... the single engine argument is weak.
Since when has the RCAF not flown CAP? If you would care to look into the matter, you will find that during the Sept 11/01 attacks, that is exactly what our fighters were doing that day. There was also this small airframe issue with the F-15's a few years back that grounded the fleet in the US and, hey, you guessed it, our RCAF was flying CAP for North America during that event... you know, because we are still part of NATO.
Like it or not, we need fighters... and to imply that we shouldn't spend on our own military to defend our boarders... to say that we should rely on other nations to spend the money do defend our sovereign country... and then to bitch when our "friends" aren't there for us in our time of need because they have budget concerns too, is pretty damn hypocritical. They who control the high ground control the battle... it's been that way since the dawn of time, and the high ground is the sky right now when it used to be a hill.
The real issue here is that we have abused our military for so long, neglected them for the sake of a budget here and a budget there that people have become used to them being a monetary whipping boy that we can always cut back on, when the reality is that we are just starting to see the true cost of all our delays in upgrading and buying newer equipment. Pay now, or pay later... and we chose to pay later. Well boys, it's later.
I would love to live in a world where we don't need a military, but the cold hard facts are that we do need a capable force... one capable of defending us and our lands. That is, unless you don't believe in Canada as a nation, and you think we should give away the whole lot to the first bully on the street and then live under their rules.