OTTAWA — Public Services and Procurement Minister Judy Foote says she plans to double the amount of staff working on the national shipbuilding strategy to address “growing pains” in the multibillion-dollar project.
The extra bodies are among a handful of enhancements the Liberals are making to a major project started by the Conservatives — one the government says has been plagued by huge cost overruns.
Foote says that’s the only way to get the program on track so it can help deliver new vessels to the Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy.
The Liberals have already promised more than $60 million in additional spending to help build an offshore oceanographic science vessel and to start work on three joint supply ships.
Foote is also announcing measures to make costing more transparent and accountable, and she pledges to report regularly to Parliament on the progress of a project that aims to re-establish Canada’s shipbuilding industry on both coasts.
Foote is outlining the changes in a keynote speech today to a defence industry trade show in Ottawa.
Brian Carter, president of Seaspan Shipyards, welcomed the announcement. “We are pleased to receive the Government of Canada's support for the National Shipbuilding Strategy, and applaud its commitment to continuous improvement,” he said in a statement.
North Vancouver-based Seaspan is building non-combat ships for the federal government under the shipbuilding strategy. When the vessels are nearly finished, plans call for them to come to Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt for final work and testing.
“Through the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Seaspan will continue to grow a shipbuilding centre of excellence on Canada's West Coast that is already delivering significant results to Canada, its taxpayers and an increasing number of Canadians who are choosing shipbuilding and ship repair as a careerm” Carter said.
“To date, Vancouver Shipyards has awarded more than $400 million in contracts to suppliers in Canada, with more than 160 Canadian companies having already benefited from these investments.”
Construction is underway on the first two of three offshore fisheries science vessels at Vancouver Shipyards, a Seaspan company. Construction on the third similar ship is slated to begin later this year.
Seapan’s engineering, planning and procurement teams are working with the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy on pre-production work needed for the upcoming offshore oceanographic science vessel and joint support ships, Carter said.
— With files from the Times Colonist
