I agree that the article is playing pretty fast and light with the details, but Australia has been pretty clear that they aren't selling their "Super Hornets" any time soon, expecting them to fly until about 2040, but they ARE selling their older Hornets.

Canada looks like they're potentially buying a bunch of old Hornets for spare parts as much as anything else.  I guess that's a cheaper way to "keep an old beater on the road" then paying Boeing for parts, but I'm not sure it exactly qualifies as an "interim fleet".

The whole plan looks like a disaster waiting to happen.