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Irving Shipbuilding is pitching the Liberal government on a plan to construct a ship specifically designed to aid in a humanitarian crisis.

The Halifax shipyard would take a commercial roll-on/roll off vessel and convert it to carry a hospital, medical supplies and emergency equipment to respond to a variety of missions, ranging from earthquake relief to providing aid to refugees.

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Irving submitted the proposal Friday to the officials co-ordinating the government’s defence review. It will publicly unveil the scheme at the CANSEC defence trade show Wednesday in Ottawa.

The government has yet to respond to the proposal.

The firm is hoping to take advantage of the government’s interest in having the military play more of a role in humanitarian operations.

We think the nation needs two or three of these maritime support ships. They’re moderately priced.

Irving president Kevin McCoy told the Ottawa Citizen it would take about one year to convert a commercial vessel into what the company is calling a maritime support ship.