Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 20, 2011 15:31:36 GMT -5
Tories' winning decision was removing themselves from shipyards decision
By Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia News October 20, 2011 12:48 PM
Read more: www.canada.com/news/Tories+winning+decision+removing+themselves+from+shipyards+decision/5581550/story.html#ixzz1bM8NGvu4
To appreciate the enormity of the Harper government's success in slipping $33 billion in new military spending across the transom with barely a whisper of opposition, relatively speaking, and on the eve of what looks to be a global recession, one need only peek at the headlines today.
Already, the most massive military procurement contract in Canadian history — the rebuilding of the Royal Canadian Navy virtually from scratch — is off front pages. In a week it'll be old news — in Ottawa. But on the East and West coasts, which have been gifted with thousands of well-paying jobs for the next half century, the ripples will be felt for decades.
Halifax $25 billion, Vancouver $8 billion.
Just like that, the English-Canadian Conservative coalition is cemented, coast to coast.
This is Harper's first home run, bases loaded — and all the more remarkable because it isn't being acknowledged as such, yet. Conservatives are too busy high-fiving each other in their suites at the Chateau Laurier to crow. Nor would they wish to: It wouldn't agree with the image of virginal neutrality in which they impregnably cocooned this announcement. The NDP, deked out of their shorts, are sulking; the Bloc are gnashing their teeth; and the Liberals, in this as in so much else lately, are irrelevant.
Here's how military procurement has worked in the past.
A general approaches a minister and says, "I need Chinook helicopters," or "I need Hercules transports." Especially in wartime, generals are practical people, with little patience for the niceties of distributing regional baksheesh, or the political necessity of an open contract process. They want weapons systems with a record of success in combat.
That creates an awkward situation for the government. It must give the impression of fair process. The typical solution, never pretty, is to draft specifications that rule out all but the chosen plane, or boat. This spawns intense rivalry among the lobbyists for the major weapons-systems manufacturers, as each jockeys for its share of the overall pie. The Liberal government of Paul Martin had a terrible time with procurement, as it sought to decide whether to buy short or long-haul transport aircraft for the air force in 2005. The Harper government faced similar turbulence after it inherited this problem, until it came up with the novel solution of buying both short and long-haul planes.
This explains, at least in part, the Harper government's approach to the F-35 fighter. Rather than try to spin up the appearance of an open process, Ottawa consulted NATO allies and they agreed on a new plane that would be purchased by all jointly, thereby — in theory — lowering costs. Trouble is, the price per plane depends on the number ordered by all buyers globally in any given year. This has led to a series of rising cost projections for the fighters, and will very likely lead to more, as European nations look for ways to slash their debt.
Politically, the F-35 purchase has been a disaster.
Which leads us to the so-called black-box approach behind this week's shipping news. Here, grimly determined to hold a fair competition and avoid any hint of gerrymandering, the government excised politicians from the process — including the cabinet and the prime minister. Senior civil servants, overseen by auditors, selected the two winning shipyards — Irving in Halifax, Seaspan in North Vancouver, B.C., — leaving the Davie yard in Levy, Que., the loser.
In the lead-up to the news there were breathless predictions of a backlash in Quebec should its yard not be selected. So far the backlash amounts to muted grumbling by NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel.
Her shipping critic, Peter Stoffer, loves the result. He's from down east.
This is the alchemy of this process: By removing itself, the government disarmed its critics before a shot was fired. Defence industry insiders say the Davie yard, fresh out of bankruptcy, was never a serious contender for the major builds, on its merits. Its best hope lay in the contracts being doled out the old way, with regional goodies for all. Senior people in Quebec know this, which is why the political reaction there has been mild.
That the two most suitable yards won these historic contracts, and that lobbyists were removed from the ultimate decision de facto by the removal of politicians, is a huge step forward in how procurement is done in Canada. That the Tories also win big from it politically on two coasts, with minimal attendant risk in Quebec, merely caps their victory.
mdentandt@postmedia.com
______________________
Canadian Royal Navy
www.navy.forces.gc.ca/cms/0/0_eng.asp
Canadian Coast Guard
www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/Home?is_mobile=2
Irving Shipbuilding Group-Halifax, NS
www.irvingshipbuilding.com/
SeaSpan Marine Group-Victoria, BC
www.seaspan.com/vicship/
______________________
By Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia News October 20, 2011 12:48 PM
Read more: www.canada.com/news/Tories+winning+decision+removing+themselves+from+shipyards+decision/5581550/story.html#ixzz1bM8NGvu4
To appreciate the enormity of the Harper government's success in slipping $33 billion in new military spending across the transom with barely a whisper of opposition, relatively speaking, and on the eve of what looks to be a global recession, one need only peek at the headlines today.
Already, the most massive military procurement contract in Canadian history — the rebuilding of the Royal Canadian Navy virtually from scratch — is off front pages. In a week it'll be old news — in Ottawa. But on the East and West coasts, which have been gifted with thousands of well-paying jobs for the next half century, the ripples will be felt for decades.
Halifax $25 billion, Vancouver $8 billion.
Just like that, the English-Canadian Conservative coalition is cemented, coast to coast.
This is Harper's first home run, bases loaded — and all the more remarkable because it isn't being acknowledged as such, yet. Conservatives are too busy high-fiving each other in their suites at the Chateau Laurier to crow. Nor would they wish to: It wouldn't agree with the image of virginal neutrality in which they impregnably cocooned this announcement. The NDP, deked out of their shorts, are sulking; the Bloc are gnashing their teeth; and the Liberals, in this as in so much else lately, are irrelevant.
Here's how military procurement has worked in the past.
A general approaches a minister and says, "I need Chinook helicopters," or "I need Hercules transports." Especially in wartime, generals are practical people, with little patience for the niceties of distributing regional baksheesh, or the political necessity of an open contract process. They want weapons systems with a record of success in combat.
That creates an awkward situation for the government. It must give the impression of fair process. The typical solution, never pretty, is to draft specifications that rule out all but the chosen plane, or boat. This spawns intense rivalry among the lobbyists for the major weapons-systems manufacturers, as each jockeys for its share of the overall pie. The Liberal government of Paul Martin had a terrible time with procurement, as it sought to decide whether to buy short or long-haul transport aircraft for the air force in 2005. The Harper government faced similar turbulence after it inherited this problem, until it came up with the novel solution of buying both short and long-haul planes.
This explains, at least in part, the Harper government's approach to the F-35 fighter. Rather than try to spin up the appearance of an open process, Ottawa consulted NATO allies and they agreed on a new plane that would be purchased by all jointly, thereby — in theory — lowering costs. Trouble is, the price per plane depends on the number ordered by all buyers globally in any given year. This has led to a series of rising cost projections for the fighters, and will very likely lead to more, as European nations look for ways to slash their debt.
Politically, the F-35 purchase has been a disaster.
Which leads us to the so-called black-box approach behind this week's shipping news. Here, grimly determined to hold a fair competition and avoid any hint of gerrymandering, the government excised politicians from the process — including the cabinet and the prime minister. Senior civil servants, overseen by auditors, selected the two winning shipyards — Irving in Halifax, Seaspan in North Vancouver, B.C., — leaving the Davie yard in Levy, Que., the loser.
In the lead-up to the news there were breathless predictions of a backlash in Quebec should its yard not be selected. So far the backlash amounts to muted grumbling by NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel.
Her shipping critic, Peter Stoffer, loves the result. He's from down east.
This is the alchemy of this process: By removing itself, the government disarmed its critics before a shot was fired. Defence industry insiders say the Davie yard, fresh out of bankruptcy, was never a serious contender for the major builds, on its merits. Its best hope lay in the contracts being doled out the old way, with regional goodies for all. Senior people in Quebec know this, which is why the political reaction there has been mild.
That the two most suitable yards won these historic contracts, and that lobbyists were removed from the ultimate decision de facto by the removal of politicians, is a huge step forward in how procurement is done in Canada. That the Tories also win big from it politically on two coasts, with minimal attendant risk in Quebec, merely caps their victory.
mdentandt@postmedia.com
______________________
Canadian Royal Navy
www.navy.forces.gc.ca/cms/0/0_eng.asp
Canadian Coast Guard
www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/Home?is_mobile=2
Irving Shipbuilding Group-Halifax, NS
www.irvingshipbuilding.com/
SeaSpan Marine Group-Victoria, BC
www.seaspan.com/vicship/
______________________