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We see ourselves as part of the solution. Heddle has been in operation since 1987. In 2016 we purchased the Thunder Bay Shipyard, a storied shipbuilding facility that once employed over a thousand people. In 2017 we entered a long-term lease to operate the Port Weller Dry Docks. Port Weller was once the most prominent shipbuilding facility in Canada, employing approximately 2,000 people. Some of the largest icebreakers ever built in this country were built there. As this is written, we are preparing to launch the CCGS Pierre Radisson from the deep dock at Port Weller after a major refit and overhaul. The Radisson has roughly the same dimensions as the six new proposed icebreakers.

Heddle is not a giant company but we have formed a joint venture with Damen Shipyards from the Netherlands, arguably the most successful shipbuilder in the world. Damen has designed, built and delivered over 6,500 vessels to clients in over 100 countries, including Canada. It is currently at work on one of the largest and most sophisticated icebreakers ever built, the RSV Nuyina, which the government of Australia will operate in Antarctica. Damen’s transfer of knowledge, technology and experience to Heddle will immediately expand capacity in Canada and help deliver icebreakers on time and at a cost that makes sense for taxpayers.

We intend to continue our fight for fair and open competition for Canada’s Shipbuilding Strategy. Competition will benefit Heddle, to be sure, but it will also benefit our employees and suppliers in Ontario and on the east coast, the sailors of the Canadian Coast Guard who desperately need new vessels, and, maybe most importantly, Canadian taxpayers, who ultimately pay for the lack of competition resulting from a policy agenda that is not in their best interest.

Shaun Padulo is president of Heddle Shipyards.