Having read through what saab is offering it seems like an absolute no brainer decision. The gripens would be built in Canada, injecting a big chunk of the money into Canadas own aerospace industry. The planes are cheaper to operate and probably more suited for Canadas needs of defending and patrolling the Arctic, rather than the f35 which is great at flying undetected into enemy airspace, something Canada will be less likely to need
Plus Canada has been trying very hard to align themselves more with Europe in general and the Nordics in specific to hedge against an increasingly unreliable and belligerent neighbor to the South.