DND refuses to change course on warship project

OTTAWA — Despite warnings that its new warship fleet continues to rise in cost, national defence is refusing to make changes to the $77-billion project.

It has instead launched a PR campaign to highlight the proposed new ship, the Type 26 from the consortium of Lockheed Martin and BAE. In addition, national defence officials hope to, within the year, have the Liberal government sign the contract to begin construction of the vessels known as Canadian Surface Combatant.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Admiral Art McDonald, now under military police investigation following allegations of sexual misconduct, are also featured in newly released BAE ads highlighting the Type 26.

Last week, the parliamentary budget officer produced a new report outlining how the cost of the Canadian Surface Combatant project is now estimated to be $77 billion. The controversial project to buy new warships has already faced delays and significant increases as the price tag has climbed from an original $14-billion estimate to $26 billion and then to $70 billion in 2019. Canada wants to buy 15 of the Type 26 ships.

The PBO also produced several costing scenarios involving changes to the project by buying differ-ent warships or having a fleet made up of Type 26 frigates and less costly vessels. Those options could save taxpayers anywhere from $7 billion to $50 billion.

But national defence has responded that it has no intention of changing course and it remains committed to the Type 26. “We will not be selecting a new design,” the department announced on social media.

There is hope at national defence headquarters that if the government soon signs a contract to start Type 26 construction, it will be locked into the project, making it difficult to reverse course.

In an unusual move, national defence also used government resources and funding to promote pri-vate firms associated with Lockheed Martin on the CSC project.

National defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said the social media effort to promote certain companies, even though they don’t have contacts with Canada, is “done to provide factual, impar-tial and objective public information.”

But a former top procurement official says what the department and military are doing is unethical. “It is not the military’s role to sell the public or members of Parliament on the Canadian Surface Combatant project,” said Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister of materiel at the DND. “There is no contract yet, but they are engaged in actively promoting a specific product of a specif-ic company. That should never be done.”

Lawyers for other defence firms have been collecting details of those social media promotions as they feel the material can be used in future legal cases to prove the military and DND are biased toward certain companies.

The Canadian Forces is also using military-friendly associations and academics to highlight the Type 26. One of the PR messages to be used involves focusing on Canadian jobs created by the CSC.