CPC French Debate: O'Toole and the F-35. What?

First off, my twin biases: I'm a MacKay supporter. I'm also resolutely opposed to buying the  F-35 Lightning II, for budgetary reasons.

Here's my spin. I found Erin and Peter's French to be about equal with each candidate making fundamental mistakes. O'Toole's is a bit better.

Normally, I have no problem with a leadership candidate taking on his rival's handling of his or her portfolio. But I found it curious, to say the least, to see O'Toole going after MacKay over the F-35 and the Conservative government's failure to buy that fighter.

Come again? Erin was Veterans Affairs Minister in 2015 -- was he on the record during the Harper government criticizing the government's progress in advancing the selection process for a new fighter? I can't remember O'Toole taking the government to task over the delays. 

The next question is whether he maintained cabinet solidarity on the issue until the government was defeated? My impression is that he did. Finally, around the cabinet table, or in caucus, did Erin raise the  F-35 matter and criticize Defence Minister MacKay's performance on the file? Not to my knowledge. I never heard any talk that he took Peter on privately either in cabinet or during caucus meetings.

So that one was a bit strange. Sort of straight out of the Twilight Zone.