In just a few days (or weeks?) an announcement will be made about the decision on which shipyards will be chosen as the ‘winners’ of the two main components of the NSPS. There will be equal amounts of happiness and furore over the outcome, and maybe even a lawsuit or […]
industral regional benefits
I recently came across the Australian Strategic Policy Institute [ASPI] Special Report Issue 31, dated 31 May 2010 and entitled Naval gazing: The future of Australia's naval shipbuilding and repair sector. (You can download a pdf of the document from the ASPI website here.) The report does a good job […]
The recent comments by Denis Stairs and Eric Lerhe on my initial offering on the future requirements for a new Canadian shipbuilding initiative made me realize that we were all looking for the same thing: a steady-state, government fleet replacement program. With a flash of deja vu (all over again, […]
Peter Haydon has provided strong arguments for shipbuilding to be a large part of the government’s infrastructure package. President Roosevelt’s 1932 shipbuilding initiative indeed provided jobs, stimulated the economy, and addressed a strategic need for American warships. Peter very nicely underlines how the same needs exist in Canada today. As […]
Peter Haydon has seized on the need for a significant government response to the current economic crisis to make a powerful case for initiating a stabilized ‘made-in-Canada’ programme for the on-going construction of new naval vessels. His proposal is impressively persuasive, and there is no question that the ‘stop-go’ pattern […]
The announcement by Prime Minister Harper that naval ship upgrades will provide new opportunities for contractors is interesting but it lacks a sense of strategic context. Announcing FELEX, which by the way was in the Conservative Platform, is essentially announcing what is already known. This is similar to the Liberal […]
The Government is presently debating whether to buy two or three of the Joint Support Ships, and how to resolve its bidding dilemma. Both teams, led respectively by SNC-Lavalin Profac Inc. and Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems Canada, were unable to deliver three ships for the amount stipulated by the government. […]