Canada’s Sea King helicopters are approaching their 50th birthday and the replacements are nowhere in sight.

Sackville-Eastern Shore MP, Peter Stoffer who’s riding includes CFB Shearwater, is calling on the government to be open about the continuous delays on delivery of the CH-148 Cyclones.

The contract for the replacements was signed with Sikorsky International Operations in 2004 with delivery expected in the summer of 2008.

“They had union problems, then they had some technical delays, then they had some requirement problems of whether they could [meet the requirements of the Canadian Forces],” says Stoffer.

He’s calling on the Harper government and Sikorsky to tell the public what’s going on and who will pay for the delays.

“I think Canadians are quite frustrated with this and would like to know the truth of what’s going on,” says Stoffer. “The basic question is when will the helicopter be available?”

The company has been contracted to deliver 28 state-of-the-art helicopters.