Quebec’s Chantier Davie shipyard is on track to win potentially billions of dollars in federal work after the Liberal government announced this morning that it was the only yard to qualify to join Ottawa’s massive shipbuilding strategy.
The announcement by federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand follows the government’s decision earlier this year to add a third yard to the shipbuilding strategy to build six much-needed icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.
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The strategy already includes Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and Seaspan Marine in Vancouver, which together are building tens of billions of dollars worth of navy warships and other coast guard vessels.
Yet today’s announcement is sure to stoke fresh accusations that the process for adding a third shipyard to the shipbuilding strategy was biased in Davie’s favour.
While Ontario-based Heddle Marine also applied for consideration as the third yard, it had complained from the start that the criteria for qualifying discriminated against all companies except Davie.
Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed today without providing details that Heddle did not qualify for consideration as the third yard.
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