As Canada's trade war with the United States dominates the headlines, Prime Minister Mark Carney has turned attention to building at home, unveiling a major shipbuilding deal in Quebec. According to CBC News, Carney presented it as the largest shipbuilding contract in Quebec's history, framing the project as part of a focus on building within Canada.
The scale of the investment is substantial. CBC reports that Ottawa has earmarked 11 billion dollars to build six new icebreakers, a fleet large enough to make the contract a centerpiece of the government's industrial plans at a moment of tension over cross-border trade.
The work is anchored in a specific location. The icebreakers are to be built at the Davie shipyard in Levis, Quebec, placing the project and its jobs in the province whose shipbuilding history the contract is said to top.
The government stressed that the benefits will reach well beyond the shipyard itself. According to the prime minister, more than 1,500 suppliers from across Canada will support the work, spreading the economic impact of the contract across the country rather than concentrating it in one place.
The ships are meant to renew an aging part of Canada's maritime fleet. CBC reports that the new icebreakers, expected to be ready by 2036, will replace the Coast Guard's aging vessels, and that Ottawa says they will be built with Canadian steel.
The government also tied the project to employment. According to Ottawa, the contract will support about 5,000 jobs, a figure the government put forward as it presented the icebreaker program as a way to invest in domestic industry while its trade relationship with the United States remains strained.