HALIFAX --
Canada’s auditor general has released a report into Ottawa’s national shipbuilding strategy, finding the strategy has been "slow to deliver" replacement vessels for the country’s aging Navy and Coast Guard vessels.
Karen Hogan’s audit covered Jan. 1, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2020 – before the pandemic began – and looked at whether the federal government was doing enough to handle continual shipbuilding delays. Her report did not focus on the industry’s role.
Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy was officially launched a decade ago, with Irving Shipbuilding selected in 2011 to build 15 Canadian surface combatants. But work on those vessels has yet to begin, with delivery of the first not expected until 2030.