(OTTAWA) Another delay in Ottawa’s nearly $100 billion plan to rebuild the Navy and Coast Guard fleets raises questions, but this time the delays aren’t due to construction issues.
Posted at 5:08 p.m.
The federal government announced in December 2019 that the Quebec shipyard Davie, of Lévis, had been the only one to qualify for a share of this lucrative supply: the construction of six icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard, which has desperately need.
This announcement had launched the negotiations for an agreement that Davie and his supporters in Quebec and Ottawa had been calling for for ages. But two years later, the discussions have still not succeeded.
Delay fuels fears over aging Coast Guard fleet, which lost another vessel this week with forced retirement of 59-year-old science vessel — so Canada no longer has a dedicated research vessel oceanic.
“After making such a high-profile commitment, you really wonder what could take so long,” said David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a Canadian procurement expert.
The Davie shipyard was initially excluded from the shipbuilding plan, following a call for tenders in 2011. Ottawa ultimately selected Irving shipyards in Halifax for the Navy’s new warships, and Seaspan in Vancouver for two new Navy support vessels and the first vessels of the new Coast Guard fleet.
The Lévis shipyard had been able to land a few piecemeal contracts, including the construction of two federal ferries and the conversion of several second-hand ships for the Navy and the Coast Guard — a supply ship for the Navy, the Asterix, and three used icebreakers.
Davie wants to do more
However, Davie made no secret of its desire to do more: with the help of allies in Quebec and opposition MPs in Ottawa, the Lévis shipyard put pressure on the federal Liberal government to be officially included in the shipbuilding plans.
At the same time, Seaspan was struggling to meet its delivery schedules due to management issues in Vancouver and Ottawa. And all the while, the Coast Guard fleet was growing increasingly aging and decrepit.
The impact of those delays crystallized further this week when the Coast Guard announced it was retiring the ocean research vessel CCGS Hudson, along with revealing that Seaspan would not be delivering its replacement until at least 2025.
It is in this context that the Liberal government announced in August 2019 that it was adding a third shipyard to the Shipbuilding Strategy to build the next fleet of icebreakers, and officially called on all shipyards to express their interest.
The Ontario shipyard Heddle Marine was quick to accuse the government of having stacked the dice in favor of Davie. But the Canadian International Trade Tribunal was barred from investigating Heddle’s complaint, after Ottawa invoked a special exemption. And in December 2019, the government announced that Davie was the only shipyard to meet its requirements.
Discussions “still ongoing”
Officials at the time expected a final agreement on the details by the end of 2020: none of that happened. The last official update, last July, indicated that the government had revised this timetable until the end of 2021 – a target also missed.
Both sides say talks are ongoing, but provide few other details.
“This is a complex, multi-step qualification process and it is imperative that Canada succeeds,” said Public Services and Procurement Canada spokesperson Marc-André Charbonneau. Our evaluation team continues to evaluate the proposal submitted by Chantier Davie. »
He added that if Davie “is unable to complete the process to become the third shipyard under the (National Shipbuilding Strategy), Canada should assess the impact on all programs. intended for the third construction site”.
A spokesperson for Davie said the Lévis yard remains committed to building the new icebreakers, the delivery of which becomes more urgent with each passing day as the Coast Guard fleet ages and becomes increasingly difficult. to maintain.
Lack of transparency ?
Meanwhile, Davie has yet to deliver the last of three used icebreakers ordered for the Coast Guard in 2018, which were billed for $610 million but are now nearing the $1 billion mark.
The lack of a formal agreement did not prevent the Liberals from announcing last May their intention to ask Davie and Seaspan to each build a polar icebreaker, an announcement that some considered partisan at the time, just before the fall federal elections.
Timothy Choi, a shipbuilding expert from the University of Calgary, admits the pandemic has undoubtedly slowed plans to add Davie to the National Strategy club, but he argues that the lack of transparency surrounding the talks is to blame. both frustrating and worrying.
“It is completely unknown what the exact progress of their negotiations is, and in fact everything that needs to be negotiated or verified for Davie to become the third official yard. »