The one thing people seem to be focused on is does Canada buy the F35 or the F18E -hmmm, ooooh, ahhhh shiny new things!!! Canada has benefited from a significant financial return in regard to work derived by supporting the build of the F35 as have other countries. If the F35 is not the chosen platform, a lot of money is going to evaporate from the Canadian aerospace industry and the new F18 is never going to generate the same level of work for industry.
However, if Canada does indeed decide on the F35 in the end, the issue is not the cost of the aircraft, the bigger question is how are they going to maintain them. The CF18, like many other fleets in Canada is military owned and civil maintained (for the most part). The F35 is a totally new aircraft and no one seems to be saying much about how its going to be maintained or by who.
As Armstrong and Miller would no doubt say - 'Its like, what shiny new toy will we be getting insn'it, cos we need the one which has bigger bombs and guns and sh1t and goes real fast n sh1t, so we can get cool medals and stuff - insn'it'.