Noting Ken Hansen and Scott have already corrected half of this bizarre post, let me work on the remainder. The suggestion that the Harper government will recast the Arctic Patrol Ship (AOPS) to make in a larger icebreaker, then transfer that work to Vancouver, before finally killing off the follow-on Halifax work on the future surface combatant is unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. On the other hand, we have the Harper government’s repeated public assertion’s that Canada must reinforce its Arctic sovereignty and that the AOPS would be a key element in doing that. It then funded a $35 billion shipbuilding plan to begin achieving this. Further, it has just awarded a multimillion dollar contract to convert the current AOPS design into a construction plan. Meanwhile the Irving Yard has commenced rebuilding its facilities at the cost of several hundreds of million dollars – assisted by a loan from the Nova Scotia government. That is evidence that supports the current AOPS plan. These developments also make it spectacularly difficult to change that plan. The author’s contrary claims are a flight of fancy. Eric Lerhe, Center for Foreign Policy Studies.
Recent Comments