PM launches Seaspan ships deal
Flanked by hard-hat-wearing shipbuilders and backed by MPS, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday cut the ribbon on a new era of shipbuilding for North Vancouver-based Seaspan Marine Corporation.
To loud applause from the assembled crowd, Harper announced that the federal government had reached an agreement in principle with Seaspan, which outlines how the company will build Canada’s non-combat fleet.
“I’m delighted to tell you in this, the traditional centre of Canada’s West Coast shipbuilding industry, you will be starting a new chapter in the illustrious maritime history of this company,” Harper said at Seaspan’s North Vancouver yard.
Seaspan, which also has a shipyard in Esquimalt, was one of two shipyards in October to win lucrative federal contracts under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.
Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding Inc. won the bigger contract, valued at an estimated $25 billion for the construction of combat vessels. Harper announced a similar agreement in principle with Irving in Halifax Thursday morning.
Seaspan’s 30-year, $8-billion contract is for the construction of seven non-combat boats for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Harper said the “umbrella agreement” clears the path for construction to begin.
“Today we are taking the first formal steps in bringing this program to life,” he said. “That means jobs and growth for here in North Vancouver and in many other communities for many years to come.”
Harper said the shipbuilding plan will give the next generation of naval and Coast Guard personnel the “vital equipment they need to do their jobs.”
“This is work of national importance,” he told the crowd.
The contract is expected to create about 4,000 jobs for Seaspan. An estimated 80 per cent will go to the North Vancouver shipyard, while the other 20 per cent will go to the second yard in Esquimalt.