in Halifax today defense minister Bill Blair is marking the start of construction on Canada’s next generation of Warships the project has been more than a decade in the making and the new vessels will replace the Navy’s aging frigates and destroyers and today we are here to begin a new chapter in the proud history of the Royal Canadian Navy today we are officially launching construction for the Canadian surface combatant project and this project is going to deliver a new Fleet of 15 War ships for the Royal Canadian Navy it is the largest ship building initiative that Canada has undertaken since the second world war cbc’s Brett Ruskin is covering today’s construction kickoff and joins us live from the Halifax Shipyard Brett what more can you tell us about the project and what the minister is saying yeah Nat let me give you a quick little uh view preview or tour inside here so you can see kind of a media scrum that had been taking place here that is just kind of packing up that’s where the news conference and where the announcement took place and you can see the kind of the curvature there of that vessel that is one of the aops ships the Arctic and offshore Patrol ships so this isn’t the new Surface combatants that we’re talking about but it gives you an idea of kind of the size and the scale and the scope and the complexity of these vessels and the ones that have been announced today are even much much bigger than that one there that cross-section so these surface combatants are going to replace the frigs that are still operating and the long since retired destroyers that Canada had been operating in as well we heard today that they were part of they were going to be named the river class of vessels so the first vessel is going to be called hmcs Frasier based on the Frasier river that flows into the Pacific Ocean also we’re going to have hmcs s laon based on the St Lawrence River that flows into the Atlantic and the third vessel coming off the line is going to be hmcs Mackenzie based on the MacKenzie River that flows up into the Arctic so some interesting symbolism some interesting national pride for Canada being built into these vessels already and being built by folks who are here in Halifax but have come here to Halifax for work and jobs is one of the main benefits one of the major benefits I suppose from this announcement so here is Minister Bill Blair talking about some of the jobs created by this work now this investment is going to deliver obviously for the Royal Canadian Navy and our National Defense but it also delivers results for Canadians and perhaps most importantly for Canadian workers throughout the entire 25-year construction period we expect that this project is going to create and sustain more than 10,000 jobs and generate over $4 billion for the Canada’s gross domestic product and so lots of money there lots of uh effects and benefits there listed um you heard the kind of 25-year time frame so just to break that down in more details they expect nine vessels to be built by the year 2040 the balance of vessels so I think six more I suppose would re built by the year 2050 and the first one should be done by the early 2030s which we hearing that is around 2033 so that’s the timeline for these ships Natasha let’s talk about the ships that are going to be built there how much of the design is finalized you know it’s based on the type 26 vessel so that’s a a British vessel that the Brits are making that the Australians are making as well and each time one is built they get customized a little bit different model modules different weapon systems different Radars so they’re still sorting out exactly what’s going to be on the Canadian versions of the ships and exactly how they’re going to fit into one another so that’s the next thing to watch the official Construction contract that we hear should be signed by the end of this year Natasha cbc’s Brett Ruskin in Halifax thank you Brett
Minister of Defence Bill Blair was in Halifax to announce the beginning of construction of the Canadian Surface Combatant fleet, 15 next-generation warships to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s destroyers and frigates.
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