Hold onto your sailor caps. Rumour is the Harper government will announce which lucky shipyard will be awarded the much-coveted $25 billion warship contract next week.
Three companies are vying for the contract to build the 20-navy-ship armada: Irving-owned Halifax shipyard, BC’s Seaspan Marine Corp. and Quebec’s Davie Yards. The runner-up will land an $8 billion contract to build navy supply ships and coast guard icebreakers—leaving one of them with bupkis.
Throughout the process Darrell Dexter’s government has been holding hands with the Irvings, spending over $100,000—they aren’t disclosing the exact figure—to stir up the PR campaign “Ships Start Here”, which heralds 30 years of economic spin-off with flashy interactiveness, free lawn signs and bus ads.
Because it’s doubtful that Ottawa’s deputy ministers making the decision ride the bus to Clayton Park, the ad campaign sparked criticism about what audience Dexter was playing to and why the public seems so eager to consume it.
In contrast to the Tories’ “Centre of Excellence” strategy, last spring the federal NDP campaigned on a defence plan that would spread out shipbuilding over a number of yards across the country, attempting to provide stable jobs in more than one place and break the boom and bust cycle in the industry.
But Dexter’s song is focused on driving the Nova Scotia economy and fetching us jobs—or at least, appearing to have tried. And if Irving wins the bid, look who’s the conquering hero.
Irving’s own track-record as a stable employer, however, is a bit spotty, making them a curious choice for an NDP-backed blitz. Rather than negotiate with the shipbuilders’ union, Irving simply shut down their Dartmouth shipyard in 2000.
Leading up to the closure of the Saint John shipyard in 2003, the workers accused the Irvings union-busting as they were forced give up their bargaining rights, which the CAW president Buzz Hargrove described as a slap in the face of democracy and “one of the most crass anti-union moves by a company and a government”.
While visiting Province House this week, interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel reiterated that the ships money should be divided across country. Dexter retorted by putting it back on Ottawa, saying he’s just participating in Harper’s process.
The NSNDP have stepped into the spotlight of this bid with balletic prowess. And either way you shake it, Dexter walks away looking the victor.
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This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2011.
The bus stop ads are in Ottawa as well as here – went up in the summer and was quite surprised to see them throughotu downtown Ottawa!
Mairin, I hate to tell you but without Irving the Halifax shipyard would be closed and more Nova Scotians would be working out west.
Your tale of the closure of Dartmouth Slips is short many a truckload of facts and your comment is just hyperbole.
Without Irving the people of New Brunswick would be short thousands of jobs and with a much lower population.
Turmel can go get lost, spreading the jobs around is grossly inefficient and those extra costs would take money away from more important federal expenditures. This is a chance for us to have stable long term jobs for skilled men and women and a secure future for their families. If the unions are smart they’ll sign a long term no strike contract.
Maybe this is an opinion piece instead of an article – not sure. Since community support is part of the bidding process, ads and lawn signs make a lot of sense. And since the ads DON’T just appear in Nova Scotia, this editorial kind of falls apart.
The Navy gets vessels to perform the tasks the government demands of it.
Nova Scotians get jobs. This is a bad thing how?
No doubt Layton’s successor will try to make an issue of why shipyards in Alberta and Saskatchewan were shut out of the bidding process.
Thank goodness the Irving shipyard in Dartmouth is shut down.
I’ve inhaled enough lead dust from the paint they sandblast off of eastern European freighters – right next to neighbourhoods – to last me a lifetime.
Instead we have construction jobs, and ongoing retail jobs to look forward to at King’s Landing. And it took a foreigner to do that. lol.
The public was eager to consume it because most people are unaware of government tendering and bidding processes, and they thought they were making a difference. They didn’t realize that support from JohnQ Public meant nothing to the end result. Still, I liked that so many were eager to support this. We need some solidarity around here.
Dartmouthy theres an Irving shipyard building in Dartmouth.. enjoy