MacKay: $5.2b also for choppers
The 2012 budget wasn’t kind to many federal departments but one big winner was the Canadian Coast Guard.
It will receive $5.2 billion over 11 years to upgrade its fleet of ships and helicopters. This money is above and beyond the $35 billion being spent in the national shipbuilding program.
Like most of the budget, few details of the spending were unveiled. The document does not outline what will be bought or when.
In an interview late Thursday night, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the money, which works out to almost $500-million per year, will involve building new ships and buying helicopters. It will also go to refit existing vessels and other capital projects such as buildings.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which oversees the coast guard, said the spending will be developed within the context of the shipbuilding program.
However, this does not mean the $5.2 billion will automatically be added to the workload of the Halifax and Vancouver shipyards. Instead new contracts will go out to tender.
"This investment into our fleet will create Canadian jobs as well as ensure that the coast guard has the number, classes and mix of vessels and helicopters it needs to deliver programs and services," Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield said Friday in an email.
It will also allow the coast guard to be able to "adapt to evolving priorities over the next 30 years," he said.
Department spokeswoman Erin Filliter said staff doesn’t yet know what equipment will be bought or when. It’s also not clear where in the country the new ships and choppers would be deployed.
In recent years, the coast guard has bought 98 new boats and refit 40 large vessels with $175 million of stimulus money.
The department’s overall budget of $1.8 billion will be cut by $79.3 million during the next three years.
The budget also revealed that Ottawa will spend $27.3 million over two years on the "continued operation and maintenance of federally owned ports."
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: PAUL McLEOD
The 2012 budget wasn’t kind to many federal departments but one big winner was the Canadian Coast Guard.
It will receive $5.2 billion over 11 years to upgrade its fleet of ships and helicopters. This money is above and beyond the $35 billion being spent in the national shipbuilding program.
Like most of the budget, few details of the spending were unveiled. The document does not outline what will be bought or when.
In an interview late Thursday night, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the money, which works out to almost $500-million per year, will involve building new ships and buying helicopters. It will also go to refit existing vessels and other capital projects such as buildings.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which oversees the coast guard, said the spending will be developed within the context of the shipbuilding program.
However, this does not mean the $5.2 billion will automatically be added to the workload of the Halifax and Vancouver shipyards. Instead new contracts will go out to tender.
"This investment into our fleet will create Canadian jobs as well as ensure that the coast guard has the number, classes and mix of vessels and helicopters it needs to deliver programs and services," Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield said Friday in an email.
It will also allow the coast guard to be able to "adapt to evolving priorities over the next 30 years," he said.
Department spokeswoman Erin Filliter said staff doesn’t yet know what equipment will be bought or when. It’s also not clear where in the country the new ships and choppers would be deployed.
In recent years, the coast guard has bought 98 new boats and refit 40 large vessels with $175 million of stimulus money.
The department’s overall budget of $1.8 billion will be cut by $79.3 million during the next three years.
The budget also revealed that Ottawa will spend $27.3 million over two years on the "continued operation and maintenance of federally owned ports."
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: PAUL McLEOD
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