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At an AOPS event at the Irving yard in Halifax Tuesday, procurement minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledged that the company might be getting orders for more of the vessels as a way to deal with the construction gap. “It very much could,” Qualtrough told journalists. “We are in the process of revisiting the timelines and making sure that everything is on track. It most definitely could, but we will have to see how long the gap will be and the cost implications.”

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

The Liberal government’s openness to protecting jobs at Irving stands in contrast to its response to similar requests for more work from Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec. It has rejected Davie’s proposals to purchase a second interim supply ship — effectively extending Project Resolve, which saw Davie deliver a retrofitted supply vessel to the navy earlier this year — as well as the shipyard’s proposal to build a humanitarian support ship.

Blaming a lack of work, Davie has already laid off 400 employees and has said more layoffs are still to come.

The previous Conservative government commissioned the supply vessel under Project Resolve, which saw Davie provide one ship as a stopgap measure until two Joint Support Ships can be built at Seaspan in Vancouver. Canada’s navy once had three such supply ships, but all have been retired from service. Over the last two years, the navy has leased for limited periods the services of Chilean and Spanish navy supply vessels.

Transport minister Marc Garneau has said the federal government doesn’t need another interim supply ship. “We cannot artificially create a need for something that doesn’t exist,” he told reporters.