$9M deal marks start of construction
OTTAWA — The Harper government on Tuesday rolled out what it hopes is the first of dozens of contracts associated with its vaunted $35-billion national shipbuilding strategy.
The $9.3-million contract with Irving Shipyards in Halifax is aimed at moving the navy’s plan to purchase between six and eight armed vessels to patrol Canada’s Arctic waters a step closer to reality.
The contract is a drop in the bucket compared to the $3.1-billion the Arctic vessels are expected to cost, and negotiations on actually designing and building the ships are still to come.
But government officials said the announcement represents an important step for the shipbuilding strategy, demonstrating that the government, Defence Department and industry can work together.
“This is the first in a series of contracts leading to the delivery of new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy,” Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose said in a statement.
“We look forward to further progress, and the awarding of further contracts, as they pave the way to job creation and economic growth.”
Irving Shipyards president Steve Durrell said in an interview his company is hoping to begin detailed design work on the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships — which remain a concept on paper — by the end of the year.
There have been concerns that the shipbuilding plan is facing stormy waters as delivery of the first Arctic ships — the first naval vessels to be produced under the shipbuilding plan — has been delayed already by at least three years, to 2018.
Durrell dismissed suggestions the delay is due to negotiations between Irving and the government being more difficult than anticipated.
“Contract negotiations are going very well,” he said.
“The relationship between us and our client I would class as very, very good.”
The Public Works department says Irving will use the $9.3 million to analyze a preliminary Arctic vessel design already put together by another company and determine how much work will be required before actual, detailed design work can commence.
The Conservative government and navy are in a race against the clock to start cutting steel on new vessels, as Canada’s destroyers and supply ships are nearing the end of their useful lives.
Inflation and increasing material costs also mean any delay undercuts the actual purchasing power of the $35 billion set aside by the Conservative government for the shipbuilding strategy.