Reality check, Canada will acquire an US aircraft, the end.
By acquiring an US aircraft the RCAF can “plug and play” into the gigantic suport and logistical depot called “The Pentagon”, that by the way its right on their door, nevermind not having to foot the development bill for upgrades, just like they´ve been doing for half a century, its vastly cheaper, easier, etc, etc, etc than crossing the pond to do so.
There are two american aircrafts that fit the Canadian “NATO/home defence” bill, the one they´ve just said they are going to acquire, the SH, and the one they were going to acquire, the F-35A, anything else can be excluded. The two twin engined Eurocanards dont offer Canada anything that the SH doesnt already offer, and what the Gripen offers, cheaper to acquire and a lot cheaper to operate goes right into “irrelevant data” because of the “gigantic suport and logistical depot on their doorstep” bit (nevermind that the Swedish bird its smaller than a Viper…)
No, Canada wont acquire the Gripen, the rafale, the J-10 or the Sopwith Camel, not gonna Happen.

Typhoons development failures can be placed squarely at most of the partner nations not pulling their weight when it comes to funding.

All of the partner nations did that. Just an example, Great Britain ditched the contracts (already signed by the way) for the integration of ALARM, CRV7, BL275, the 1500 L external tank and CASOM (Storm Shadow) by the beggining of the 2000´s in order to save money (those contracts are described in the NAO´s “Major Projects Report” of several years ago) .
All the partner nations had a huge amount of highly capable ATG platforms, so they´ve decided to spend the money only when those said platforms were going to get retired, now.

WSJ is calling it a purchase – http://www.wsj.com/articles/canada-plans-purchase-of-18-boeing-super-hornet-aircraft-1479840332

Regarding the cost, there is no true analysis of what the cost of the F-35’s would be to Canada since no one knows which lot they had planned to firm up. The closer to FRP the more competitive the price will be so if they keep moving the competition to the right it favors the F-35 more than the others since it is building on its production rate every other year.

Regarding their participation in the program, they can continue to get work as long as they keep meeting their commitment to fund. However, at a point in time this is going to become political where the rest of the partners are going to demand that they sign up or exit. The surest way for the Trudeau government to get out of the F-35, and make sure that either his defense minister, or a future administration/government down the road is given a cost-prohibitive proposition relying on FMS negotiations and commercial offsets, is to completely exit the program and be done with it. They clearly haven’t done so which at least to me looks like them wanting to simultaneously deliver on their election rhetoric of ditching the previous government’s deal but also wanting to stay in the program and decide at a later period. At this moment If I were to put my money on something it would be a mix fleet of F-18E/Fs and F-35’s much like the US Navy and the RAAF.

I think they’ll look to make the 18 Super Hornet’s permanent instead of an ‘interim’ solution (whatever that means) and buy 40 or so F-35A’s to go with them at a later date. If the current government is still around they can claim that the original plans were scrapped, a mixed fleet was cheaper and they were able to reduce cost through competition … If it is decided by a different government, they can simply claim that they reversed the previous government’s position.

Precisely what i think.
This is a straight one for either a) a full fleet of SH´s, b) a mix of SH´s and F-35A´s and c) ditching those 18 SH´s some 15 years from now and go for a full F-35A fleet. Option B and C more likely in my opinion.

i’ll admit i havnt followed Vladimir Putin & Ahmadinejad campaigns, you might be right about that,
Ozzie MoD wish list still isnt preached and cheered by politicians & audience alike AFAIK tho

Old Ahmadinejad tried to raise the defense budget 127% in a year while at (relative) peace and right in the middle of the oil prices crash! Mad has a hare…

a double capability earn its way easy in US, thats where you are unique,
politicians in the rest of the world arent boosting
“i’m the most militant there ever was”
“i’ll be spending more and increase deficit & debt the moment i become president”
….and receive yiiii-haaa hooray clap clap from the audience !

Unique?!
Have you read what Vladimir Putin has been saying for more than a decade?
Or have you noticed the Aussies MOD acquisitions shop list?
Or good old Ahmadinejad trying to more than double Iran defense budget in … one year, 2012 ?

So.. a Grifale or Rafipen

Pretty much that

Maybe French should have just gone the RN way; dump the catapults, build ski jumps on their carriers and buy Sea Harriers…

The Marine Nationale made very clear, in no uncertain terms, that the aircraft that they wanted was the Hornet.