Seaspan awarded $3.3-billion Coast Guard contract

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The federal government has given another boost to BC’s shipbuilding industry, with Seaspan in North Vancouver being awarded a $3.3 billion contract for up to 10 Coast Guard vessels.

But the feds are staying away from concerns raised recently by the province.

The premier has recently been warning that Canada is unprepared for tanker oil spill. Despite the high-profile issue, federal Public Works Minister Diane Finley did little during her announcement this morning at the Vancouver Shipyards to address those concerns.

“The medium-sized multi-task vessels will play a variety of roles both with fisheries but also in search and rescue… there are a number of purposes to which they could be put,” said Finley.

Seaspan president Brian Carter says the work on upgrades to the shipyard is well underway and construction on the first vessel is due to begin a year from now. “We have hired the best and brightest ship-building professionals from all around the world to come here, apply their experience to our ship designs and planning and program management.”

The announcement is part of an effort to revitalize Canada’s ship-building industry. Across the country, Ottawa is spending up to $38 billion on the industry.

Including previous announcements, the Vancouver Shipyards is now being asked to build 17 ships.

The NDP says the announcement is great news but it’s worried the Tories won’t be able to pony up the money.

“We’ve seen this repeatedly and in fact the program has had a couple of false starts now and so what we’re seeing is a lot of announcements.  We’re not seeing a lot of funding being made available so that the ships are actually built, there have been a whole range of delays,” explains MP Peter Julian.

He hopes administration problems will be cleaned up to stop delays in projects which are vital to the public.

“The NDP will certainly be pressing the Harper government to actually deliver on what they’re promising,” Julian adds.