According to the federal government’s website, Canada’s shipbuilding industry “has a long and proud history.” I beg to differ. That should read: “had a long and proud history.”
A succession of governments, federal and provincial, have done everything in their power to wreck the industry.
The latest episode in this wretched saga aired two weeks ago, when Ottawa handed a whopping contract to a French firm. The deal, worth $5.2 billion if the contract runs its full term of 35 years, covers maintenance work on our Arctic patrol fleet.
Skill-testing question: Which of these two countries has an Arctic coastline, France or Canada? If you answered France, there’s a job waiting for you in the Department of National Defence.
In fairness, Ottawa was merely following B.C.’s lead. In 2004, our ferry corporation awarded a $325-million contract for three Coastal class vessels to a German shipyard. Evidently pleased with this coup, the company later paid a Polish yard $165 million to build three mid-sized ships. That was followed by a $140-million contract to refit two Spirit class vessels, again awarded to a Polish firm. (Because of currency swings, some of these numbers might be slightly off.)
Adding the federal contract to those B.C. Ferries sellouts, we get a total of $5.83 billion. By way of proportion, that’s twice the entire annual output of our domestic shipbuilding industry — what’s left of it.
When critics make this point, they’re met with one of two rejoinders. Sometimes we’re told those foreign deals are cheaper. That was Ottawa’s explanation for hiring a French firm, and B.C. Ferries’ excuse for buying German boats.
Or, we might hear, our domestic shipyards are too busy to take on additional work. The ferry corporation ran that sad story up the flagpole when it asked a Polish firm to refit the two Spirit class vessels.
All of which brings to mind the fellow who murdered his parents, then asked for clemency on the grounds he was an orphan. For whose fault is it that our marine industry has been allowed to atrophy?
We have the longest coastline of any country. At the beginning of the 20th century, we had the fourth largest merchant marine in the world. Victoria, Esquimalt and Vancouver are home to outstanding natural harbours.
Yet today, nationwide, just 11,100 workers are employed in our shipbuilding sector. That’s a fraction of the historical record.
During the First World War, almost 40 steel steamships were built in Vancouver alone by J. Coughlin & Sons. Between 1939 and 1945, Canadian yards produced 383 warships and 395 merchant ships.
Then look at our ferries. Of 35 vessels currently in service, the great majority were built in Vancouver or Esquimalt. That was possible because the company, initially, kept its suppliers busy. Between 1960 and 1985, 20 boats were commissioned here.
But in the following years, that policy wasn’t followed. Instead of replacing ferries on a regular schedule, the fleet was allowed to age. The industry suffered as a result.
It’s true that some yards in Vancouver are working at capacity.
But that doesn’t negate the basic truth that we are shopping abroad because local firms can’t do work that, in previous years, they could have done.
Ottawa is a hopeless case. Like Narcissus, our prime minister cares more about his image than reality.
However, I read somewhere that Premier John Horgan got into politics because the decision to buy ferries from a German firm infuriated him.
Very well. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
If the board of B.C. Ferries hasn’t enough foresight to keep its supply chain in good shape, Horgan should appoint a board that does.
