DND official told to stop using custom business card showing F-35 and CF-18 at Ottawa trade show

A Department of National Defence official was told to stop distributing a custom business card that featured images of F-35 fighter jets after the card was handed out at a military trade show in Ottawa in late May. Crista-lynn Ferguson, director general of fighter capability, gave the card at the CANSEC event. The front showed a metallic logo with outlines of an F-35 and a CF-18.

The back displayed a photograph of two American F-35s flying alongside two Canadian CF-18s during a joint training mission. Federal guidelines require all government business cards to follow a standardized template with only a Canadian flag as illustration. DND spokesperson Kened Sadiku said the card was not produced through the department's standardized process.

He said Ferguson would be asked to stop using it and that all DND employees would be reminded to comply with the Federal Identity Program. Canada began acquiring F-35s under a January 2023 contract for 16 aircraft and plans to take delivery of its first jet later in 2026. The program entered a government review in March 2025, with no further orders announced since.

The government is considering a mixed fleet that could include Gripen jets from Saab. Sadiku said Ferguson placed the images on the card to reflect her role in modernizing Canada's fighter capability. The intention was not to communicate a position on the F-35 review, he said.

Geneviève Tellier, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, said the card gave the impression of showing a preference and that public servants must avoid any appearance of bias. Richard Shimooka, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said the card reflected the military's pride in the systems it uses.

Jean-Christophe Boucher, professor of political science at the University of Calgary, described the card as symbolizing a tone-deaf attitude from National Defence toward the project's political ramifications.

-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet, commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, said last year that China and Russia operate fifth-generation fighters and missiles that put western allies at risk.