Armed Arctic vessels face delay in latest procurement setback

LEE BERTHIAUME
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — The Conservative government’s list of troubled multi-billion-dollar military procurement projects continues to grow as a plan to obtain a fleet of armed vessels to patrol Canada’s Arctic waters has been hit with a three-year delay.

The Defence Department had been expecting to take delivery of Canada’s first of between six and eight Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships in 2015.

But documents tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday show the timeline has been pushed back to 2018. In addition, the $3.1-billion project is now expected to cost $40 million more than anticipated.

The Defence Department did not respond to questions by press time.

The Arctic patrol ships have been controversial ever since Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the government’s intention to purchase them in July 2007.

The Conservatives had promised during the 2006 election campaign to purchase a fleet of armed icebreakers, and the decision to go with the smaller, lighter patrol vessels was criticized because of their inability to operate in the Arctic year-round.

In addition, the ships had already been subject to one delay as a contract was originally supposed to be awarded in May 2009, with delivery of the first vessel set for 2013.

The new ships are expected to be based in Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C. New infrastructure will be built at those two locations to handle the ships and the project will also see the establishment of a docking and refuelling facility in Nanisivik, Nunavut.

The Arctic patrol ships are only the latest military procurement project to face delays and other problems.

Aside from the F-35 stealth fighter, which put a particularly harsh spotlight on the politics and issues surrounding the process of purchasing military equipment, issues have arisen with plans to buy armoured vehicles, search-and-rescue aircraft and army trucks.

In addition, plans to buy new resupply ships ran aground in 2008 when the government was told the $2.9-billion budget set aside for the program was not enough. The project was restarted and the military is now hoping the first ship will be delivered in spring 2018.

“Everything has been a little slower than perhaps people would like,” said retired vice-admiral Peter Cairns, now president of the Shipbuilding Association of Canada. “It’s really hard to give any definitive answer why.”

One possible explanation for the Arctic patrol vessel delay is that the project was rolled into the $30 billion in shipbuilding contracts awarded last fall. Before the contracts were awarded, Cairns said, all work on the designs stopped.

But he also said the government has been “unrealistic” when it comes to shipbuilding projects by asking for the vessels to do many things but not providing a big enough budget.

University of Ottawa defence expert Philippe Lagasse said the Arctic patrol vessels were also imposed on the Royal Canadian Navy even though the coast guard has typically been responsible for the Arctic, and their exact purpose was never defined.

Whatever the reason for three-year delay, Lagasse said the setback is troubling.

“It’s yet another signal that procurement has not gone well over the last six years,” he said.