Liberals to privatize navy ship maintenance
The Liberal government will announce Thursday a $5.2-billion deal to privatize maintenance of new navy ships despite concerns the plan puts key portions of Canada’s military capability in the hands of a private firm.
A Canadian subsidiary of the French defence firm, Thales, will be awarded the contract. Jim Carr, Acting Minister of Public Services and Procurement, will make the announcement in Dartmouth, N. S. Parliamentary Secretary Steven MacKinnon will make the same announcement at the Thales facility in Ottawa.
The Ottawa Citizen reported in January that the firm had been selected to provide long- term maintenance for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Arctic patrol ships and its joint support vessels.
The deal would see the firm provide in- service support for an initial service period of eight years, with options to extend services up to 35 years. The company will be given significant access to Department of National Defence facilities and support equipment, as well as, in some cases, oversight of federal workers.
But unions representing federal ship maintenance employees have been warning the deal will mean lost public service jobs and will jeopardize national security.
Earlier this year, leaders of 10 unions whose workers are involved in navy ship maintenance wrote defence minister Harjit Sajjan to ask that the contract be put on hold.
Jerr y Ryan, president of the Federal Dockyard Trades and Labour Council East, pointed out it doesn’t make sense from a security point of view to turn over responsibility for preparing navy ships for military missions to a private firm whose main interest is making a profit. “We’ve been the safety net for the Canadian navy and now they’re removing that,” he noted.
The unions are also worried once private contractors take on significant roles in maintaining the ships, the knowledge and skills built up over the decades among the federal workforce will gradually decrease. That, in turn, will prompt the government to hire more contractors.
The fleet maintenance facilities in Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C., are the largest industrial facilities owned by the Department of National Defence. Staff and equipment support naval operations but have also lent their assistance to army and air force endeavours. The unions are not alone in their concern.
The government had earlier been warned by DND that its strategy of having one firm in charge of maintenance for both fleets could cost taxpayers more money in the long run, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.