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Some of the smaller ships that could be supplied in future to the Canadian Forces won’t have to be built in Canada, the federal government has confirmed.

The move appears to undercut the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, designed to acquire replacement ships for Canada’s naval and coast guard fleets while creating jobs at home.

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But in a new response to companies, Public Services and Procurement Canada has confirmed that tugs and fireboats that might be provided to the Department of National Defence in future don’t have to be Canadian-made.

Under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, or NSPS, brought in by the Conservative government, small Canadian shipyards were supposed to build these support ships. That was seen by the government as ensuring contracts were spread around the domestic industry, since the two large yards, Irving on the east coast and Seaspan on the west coast, were receiving the lion’s share of billions of dollars in projects.