setUoYouRPROFILE's blog: "tufui"

OTTAWA - Shipyards on Canada’s east and west coasts have been awarded $33 billion to revitalize the navy and coast guard with 28 large vessels over the next 30 years. Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax will build $25 billion worth of new combat vessels over the next 30 years, and Vancouver’s Seaspan Marine Corp. won the $8-billion deal to build seven non-combat vessels, including a new Arctic icebreaker, the John G. Diefenbaker to replace — what else? — the 40-year-old Louis St. Laurent. Quebec’s Davie Shipyard, which was on the brink of bankruptcy before putting together an 11th-hour bid with Upper Lakes Group and giants SNC-Lavalin and Korea’s Daewoo,Longchamp Outlet was unsuccessful for the non-combat work. At the Davie shipyard in Levis, Que., near Quebec City, stone-faced union officials were licking their wounds Wednesday upon hearing that they had been passed over. Union president Paul-Andre Brulotte told QMI Agency that the long-term future of the troubled shipyard was in jeopardy. “It’s all of Quebec that’s affected,” said Brulotte. “The Quebec government counted on this, so it’s disappointing.” Throughout the 16-month shipyard selection process, the federal government maintained a hands-off approach to the selection process. Indeed, government officials insist even Prime Minister Stephen Harper was kept in the dark about who the winners were until Wednesday afternoon. The procurement process was handled instead by senior bureaucrats from the defence, public works, fisheries and oceans, and industry departments. Their work was overseen by a third-party fairness monitor, who signed off on the process and decision as being “made objectively, free from personal favouritism and political influence, and encompass the elements of openness, competitiveness, transparency and compliance.” NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel blasted the government for picking "winners and losers," even though her party's shipbuilding critic gave the government "credit" for the selection process. Peter Stoffer even called Wednesday "a very, very great day for all of Canada." Liberal interim leader Bob Rae said the feds, having encouraged the Quebec shipyard to spend money on the bid, now have a responsibility to ensure Davie gets sub-contracted and maintenance work as part of the larger contracts awarded to Irving and Seaspan Wednesday. “The procurement process has been touted by the government as fair and non-political,” Rae said in a statement. “But the Conservatives cannot use this arm’s-length process as an excuse to ignore the investments made by the communities that have not been successful in this process. "The Conservatives cannot escape responsibility for the economic impact of their procurement strategy, and they must reveal their economic plan for the Levis region.” Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose said the massive investment in shipbuilding would create jobs in all regions of Canada because of the numerous sub-contracts and maintenance that would be available to all Canadian shipyards to bid on. "Regardless of who received the contract, this policy will create thousands of jobs in all regions of the country through the many sub-contracting opportunities," she said. "It is important to note there is still the opportunity to compete for construction of over 100 smaller vessels that have been set aside. The shipyards selected today are not allowed to bid on these contracts. In addition, there are millions of dollars a year in repair and re-fit work in this strategy that shipyards across Canada can also compete for. The $2-billion contract to build 116 smaller federal vessels will be put out for competition, in a piecemeal fashion, for other Canadian shipyards to bid on, but both Irving and Seaspan are prohibited from bidding on those contracts. Turmel said that process should be accelerated before hard times befall smaller shipyards that are waiting for work.