MacKay: Ottawa to restart process to replace navy ships
By Jennifer Macmillan, THE CANADIAN PRESS
DARTMOUTH, N.S. - Defence Minister Peter MacKay is promising a Canadian-made solution to replace two aging navy supply ships after Ottawa sunk a $2.9 billion replacement program last week.
The program was put on hold after bids to build the new vessels came in over budget.
"Unfortunately the Canadian companies were not able to meet that bid process," MacKay said at an event on Friday.
"Now we hope we'll be able to restart that process and get that ship building underway very quickly."
MacKay says the federal government intends to sit down with Canadian industry groups to find a way to replace HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver.
He added that Ottawa is still seeking to buy 12 new mid-shore patrol boats for the Canadian Coast Guard.
In a written statement released late last Friday, the Conservative government announced a tender call for the new coast guard vessels had also been cancelled. Ottawa had expected to spend $340 million on the patrol boats.
The move to scuttle the supply ship replacements came as a blow to a navy that is already struggling to keep its existing 1960s-era ships in the water.
Undated briefing notes leaked to The Canadian Press last weekend say the ships are obsolete, out of spare parts and may not meet today's environmental standards.
The document also sheds light on concerns about whether the two current ships are safe enough to continue at sea, concluding the navy will have to "manage the risk" and take stock on how to keep the vessels in service.
The supply ships are vital to keeping warships supplied with fuel, ammunition, spare parts and supplies during long overseas operations.
The cancellation was criticized by the opposition parties, with NDP fisheries critic Peter Stoffer calling it a broken promise.
He said scuttling the program flies in the face of the Conservative government's pledge to strengthen the Canadian Forces.
The program to acquire new multi-role ships was announced in Halifax in June 2006 by former defence minister Gordon O'Connor.
The announcement was heralded at the time as the beginning of a new era for the navy.
Stoffer said the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't living up to its commitments to the military.
"It is easy for the Harper Conservatives to say that they support the troops," Stoffer said in a news release on Friday.
"But at the end of the day, they just don't deliver."