‘Massive void’ to fill if Liberals proceed with plan to ground Snowbirds

Ex-pilots, Tory MP say aerobatics team serves as key recruiting tool, source of national pride amid rupture with U.S.

Published May 31, 2026  •  3 minute read

The "Four-way Cross" is just one of many manoeuvres that demonstrate the extraordinary precision choreographed into the Canadian Forces Snowbirds show every season. Photo by Mike Kaehler photo

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The Canadian Forces Snowbirds have been many things to many people over the years.

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One of the best teams in the world for precision demonstrations and a regular sight at major events from Grey Cups to Olympic Games, the Snowbirds have inspired generations of pilots, wowed crowds at airshows across the continent and served as a prime recruiting tool for the military.

Dan Dempsey is keenly aware of that history.

The retired lieutenant-colonel spent two stints with the Snowbirds during his 46-year career in the air, the first as a solo pilot and the second as the commanding officer and team leader. It was a dream he started chasing thanks to one of the Snowbirds’ predecessors, the Royal Canadian Air Force Golden Hawks.

“I was at their very first show on June 6, 1959, at RCAF Station Rockliffe,” said Dempsey who was a young boy when he watched the Golden Hawks perform at the former military base in Ottawa’s east end.

“By the time I was 13 … boy, that is all I wanted to do in my life was to fly. But not just to fly, to fly in the RCAF.”

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Capt. Rob Mitchell, outer left wing pilot with the Snowbirds, looks at three of the nine Snowbirds flying together over John C. Munroe International Airport as a promotion for the Hamilton International Airshow in this undated photo. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk /Toronto Sun

Tutor jets being grounded despite refurbishment

Which begs the question: With Canada short thousands of troops and the nation’s identity being challenged by a contentious trade dispute with the United States, why is the federal government hitting pause on a prime recruiting tool and source of national pride after their jets were recently refurbished?

The Department of Defence announced earlier this month that the Snowbirds will be grounded after this show season and until a new fleet of jets can arrive, which they are hopeful will happen by the early 2030s.

The current fleet of CT-114 Tutors, most of which have been modernized with new cockpits and aeronautics as part of a program that was expected to cost more $30 million and announced in 2021, are expected to be replaced by then with new CT-157 Siskin II jets.

Former Snowbirds, however, are pleading with the federal government to reconsider the plan by asking Ottawa to pare down the Snowbirds team from nine planes to seven during demonstrations and limit their schedule, much like what Britain’s Red Arrows are doing.

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An email asking Defence Minister David McGuinty if they had considered such a move went unreturned.

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Former pilot Maryse Carmichael agreed that grounding a “national institution” like the Snowbirds will be a missed opportunity.

“It is difficult to quantify pride and inspiration,” said Maryse Carmichael, the program’s first female pilot and team leader. “But you know what I really believe, it (having the Snowbirds) is a strategic advantage for Canada at a time where we so desperately need to all come together as Canadians, fly our Canadian flag, have those nine red and white jets in the sky, inspiring the vision and, yeah, help with recruitment.”

Conservative MP Fraser Tolmie, a former mayor of Moose Jaw who represents the Saskatchewan riding where the Snowbirds are based, called the decision “ludicrous,” especially if teams like the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds take their spot at airshows.

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“It’s going to leave a massive void in this country,” said Tolmie, who is also a former RCAF officer. “This is an iconic symbol of our nation.

“It shows unity, it shows the professionalism of what we can do, it shows that we can do difficult things, dangerous things and it inspires people to want to serve our country.”

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds during the final day of the Canadian International Air Show, held near the CNE in Toronto, Ont. on Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk /Toronto Sun

Concerns arise over loss of expertise

While Dempsey and Carmichael understand the dilemma that the Canadian Forces face — a shortage of as many as 14,000 qualified military personnel, while struggling to retain recruits — they said it is imperative that the expertise from the current crop of Snowbirds is not lost.

Carmichael said she had 1,500 hours in the air and was a flight instructor at CFB Moose Jaw before she joined the Snowbirds. Even then, it took six months of training with experienced pilots to prepare for the following season.

“In three, four, five, six years from now, you can’t just go and say, ‘Oh, OK, we’ll pick it up and we’re going to go and fly an airshow,” she said. “It’s going to be more costly and, in my opinion, riskier when the air administration team starts up again.”

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