There has been much local anticipation for the federal shipbuilding contract, which earmarks $25 billion in new ship construction to the Irving Shipyard in Halifax. Everyone, from the premier down to real estate speculators, has celebrated the contract as the foundation for the success of the local economy. But now a prominent military analyst is suggesting that the federal government’s plans are about to be re-worked, taking an important part of the shipbuilding contract away from Halifax, and possibly dooming the entire local enterprise.
The Halifax work is to come in two stages. First, Irving is to build up to eight Arctic patrol boats for the Coast Guard. These are relatively small vessels, but will allow the yard, which currently does only repair work, to retool for ship construction, and to otherwise enlarge capacity in anticipation of the second stage of the contract. That second stage, which would come some years out, after Irving has expanded operations, is building 12 very large frigates.
But now Ken Hansen, who is team leader for the Maritime Security Policy Program at Dalhousie University, and who studies Canadian naval operations, says the building of the Arctic patrol boats might be taken away from Irving. If so, much if not *all* the local work might be at risk, he tells The Coast, as the Irving yard may not be able to tool up for the frigate work.
Under the terms of the contract, the Arctic patrol boats were intended to be small, fast craft operated by Canada’s existing Coast Guard. Unlike the US Coast Guard, the Canadian Coast Guard is not currently a part of the military, and with the exception of joint operations with the RCMP, Coast Guard boats are unarmed or lightly armed.
Bu t, says Hansen, the US is applying diplomatic pressure on the Canadian government to turn the Arctic fleet into a true military force. And, says Hansen, Canadian military officials have presented a memo to prime minister Stephen Harper calling for militarizing the Coast Guard, and specifically the Arctic fleet. That means ditching the small Arctic boats and replacing them with large, heavily armed ice breakers. Those ships are currently built by the Seaspan Shipyard in Vancouver.
Asked for a copy of the memo, Hansen says it is secret. “But I talked to the person who wrote it,” he says.
Hansen agrees that if the plans for the Arctic boat change, it could mean that Halifax ultimately loses all the shipbuilding work, including for the frigates.
Here’s how “harbour watcher” Mac MacKay, who alerted The Coast to Hansen’s fears, puts it: “Much scrambling is in order, and much uncertainty is ahead for Halifax—in my prediction, lasting for two or three years at least. Worst case scenario: a major strategic alliance with a proven foreign hi-tech shipbuilder and the farming out of the really lucrative work. Best case scenario? Nothing in sight.”
Hansen says he agrees with MacKay’s analysis.
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December 27, 2012
This article appears in Dec 20-26, 2012.
The shipyard actually does do new constructions. I have personally, in the past 5 years, worked on Irving’s own newly built supply boat, The Atlantic Condor, as well as an ill fated, failure that was supposed to be a cruise ship, The Pearl Mist.
— Rolly
Also, I worked on the first of the new Coast Guard boats. I believe the Pearl Mist story and the naming of the first Coast Guard ship were covered in the local media: The Chronicle Herald, CBC radio and local TV news.
— Rolly
Good morning,
I rarely write responses to blogs, however this got my attention this morning. I’ve written to you for two reasons; The politics behind it don’t seem realistic and your blogger has demonstrated a remarkable lack of understanding of his background material.
For the first point, I have my doubts that the U.S government would be pressuring us to re-role and arm our coastguard. Why would they be so specific? The details of exactly how we divide tasks between the Navy and the Coast Guard are probably below their notice. They would be more concerned about whether we are meeting or obligations for the collective defense of North America in general as opposed to the specifics of what government department gets what type of ship. Also, due to the ongoing disputes between Canada and the US about the North West passage and its status as internal waters or a international straight, they may actual prefer Canada to maintain a weaker Coast Guard as it would weaken our ability to exercise our sovereignty in the arctic.
My second concern is my biggest, the author of the Blog and his sources demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of what ships Halifax Shipyards will be building for the government and who will be using them once they are built. Halifax Shipyards was awarded the Surface Combatant portion of the contracts for the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. The ships they have been contracted to build are the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel and the Single Surface Combatant. None of these ships were ever destined to serve with the Coast Guard as your writer asserts. As well the AOPV will be armed, which is also contrary to your author’s source information. If you examine the design, which the Navy has already purchased and provided to Irving, you will see that the AOPV was never small and fast– another claim by your author. The AOPV is designed to be able to operate in ice, but not to act as an icebreaker. Some other details the author got wrong, the U S Coast Guard is no longer a branch of it’s armed forces, but is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security. The harbour watcher’s worst case scenario about out of country suppliers has already happened, to a small extent, the Navy purchased the design from a foreign designer and payed a Canadian firm to customize it for the Navy’s requirements. With all of these mistakes how can we take the author’s conclusions seriously?
The AOPV was never meant for the Coast Guard, It was never the small and fast ship he described, It has always been the Navy’s intent to arm it. This removes it from the question of changing the role of our Coast Guard. Therefore pressure from the US will not cause Irving to loose the contract, which will not lead to the follow on contracts failing. On a positive note the government has awarded Halifax Shipyards a contract to turn the AOPV design into an actual construction plan and to finalize the other details required, such as machinery and electronics.
I would recommend that the author spend more time familiarizing himself with the background material before speaking to his sources in order to ensure a complete understanding of the story.
The only real threat to the NSPS would be a worsening fiscal situation for the Federal Government.
Thanks
Scott
@Scott. Take the bloggers writings with a big grain of salt. He a chief representative of the defeatist “I’m a victim” maritimer crowd. If it isn’t a story about how ye-ol martimers are getting screwed; it will surely turn into one!
Should probably stick to roasting Kelly, I guess.
You mean we can’t just indefinitely whore ourselves for federal and provincial projects and money? We might need the help of the private sector to grow the economy in Halifax? lol
Your reporter has misquoted me on several key issues. First: the Arctic and Offshore Patrol ships are being built for the navy, not the coast guard. Second, the AOPS are not small, but will be larger in displacement than the current frigates. Third: there is no ‘pressure’ coming from the U.S. on the issue of arming the coast guard. Fourth: militarization is not the issue, but how to close the ‘gap’ between the civil coast guard and the military navy. Arming a ship does not equate to militarization. Ken Hansen, Dalhousie University.
We may not lose the ship building contract but in the long run its going to cost us way over what it is worth.
Noting Ken Hansen and Scott have already corrected half of this bizarre post, let me work on the remainder. The suggestion that the Harper government will recast the Arctic Patrol Ship (AOPS) to make in a larger icebreaker, then transfer that work to Vancouver, before finally killing off the follow-on Halifax work on the future surface combatant is unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. On the other hand, we have the Harper government’s repeated public assertion’s that Canada must reinforce its Arctic sovereignty and that the AOPS would be a key element in doing that. It then funded a $35 billion shipbuilding plan to begin achieving this. Further, it has just awarded a multimillion dollar contract to convert the current AOPS design into a construction plan. Meanwhile the Irving Yard has commenced rebuilding its facilities at the cost of several hundreds of million dollars – assisted by a loan from the Nova Scotia government. That is evidence that supports the current AOPS plan. These developments also make it spectacularly difficult to change that plan. The author’s contrary claims are a flight of fancy. Eric Lerhe, Center for Foreign Policy Studies.
Tim Bosquet has once again shown himself to be the laziest, rumour mongering, piece of shit “journalist” in Halifax. Time and time again the stuff he writes is proven false, based on rumour, and just plain fiction. golocal’s comment “chief representative of the defeatist “I’m a victim” maritimer crowd” hits the nail squarely on the head. This guy is a loser, and should not be allowed to propogate his germs in public.
I just hope the ships aren’t too big or tall. Might scare the old people in Halifax…
It seems like a retraction / apology should be in order, no? When the EDITOR of the paper makes this many mistakes in a single article, and doesn’t even bother to publish a long, detailed errata, how the paper have any credibility left at all?
Perhaps all your articled should be labelled as editorial, not “news.”
Business as usual for Tim Arse-Biscuit. At any rate, long before the first keel is laid , Prime Minister Trudeau will probably have scaled the procurement back to 6 solar-powered kayaks.
Never underestimate the government of the day ability to change it’s mind. Does anyone with a heart beat remember the Avro Arrow? When the cost of such hardware exceeds the ability to pay for such, then out the window goes the contract and all associated with it. Just the idea that it is flaunted by Darrell Dexter and crew means that the whole project is in jeopardy. That man could not with any degree of certainty project the out come of one ingesting a pound of ex-lax tablets, it is evident th the whole province is being taken for a ride, and he is hoping that the word will not be public knowledge until after the next election. Which by the way will do him no good personally, as he will be defeated in his own riding, and his party will be decimated throughout the province. I only hope to live long enough to witness such a great event, I wonder how many laptops and camera’s he will be able to pilfer until then.
This just in: Tim Bousquet hates everything! Whoa!