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Vancouver Sun
10-08-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
European company has 'extreme interest' in bid to build a dozen navy submarines, shores up support in B.C.
Canada won't decide who will build new submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy until 2028, but the program is lucrative enough that bidders are already working to shore up suppliers and support, including those on the West Coast. In July 2024, then-defence minister Bill Blair unveiled a plan to buy up to 12 new submarines for the navy, capable of patrolling the Arctic. 'When you read up to 12 submarines, then you get really excited,' said Joachim Schönfeld, senior representative in Canada for German-based Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, one of five potential bidders to the patrol submarine project. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'That is of extreme, extreme interest for the company,' Schönfeld said if the joint German/Norwegian proposal Thyssenkrupp is submitting. The government has not released details about the project's budget, but Postmedia defence journalist David Pugliese reported an estimate would be in the tens of billions of dollars over the lifetime of the vessels. Besides Thyssenkrupp, bidders from Spain, France, Sweden and South Korea have responded to Ottawa's request for information, the initial phase of the procurement process. The winner will build the vessels in their home country. Schönfeld visited Victoria and Vancouver last week to start lining up potential partners in Thyssenkrupp's bid to supply Canada with the same Class 212CD submarine it is developing for Germany and Norway, which uses hydrogen fuel cells to provide long underwater endurance. A significant opportunity lies in developing the West Coast maintenance facility the navy would need for the program, which is what specifically brought Schönfeld to Victoria and Vancouver. 'You cannot start early enough to find the right partners and to prepare everything to be ready when the first submarine will be delivered,' Schönfeld said. He said he had plans to meet with existing shipyards, including Seaspan, which already has a close relationship with Thyssenkrupp. Seaspan is building joint support ships for the Royal Canadian Navy based on designs by Thyssenkrupp. 'The very short answer is it's huge,' Dave Hargreaves, senior vice-president at Seaspan Shipyards, said of the potential opportunity. Seaspan is already involved in submarine maintenance as the main contractor for the Royal Canadian Navy's existing four Victoria Class submarines and has built up considerable expertise over the last 15 years. Hargreaves said Seaspan has had close discussions with all five bidders in the competition. He added that they all have somewhat different proposals and levels of experience, but the program as a whole would represent a doubling of the navy's maintenance requirement. Hargreaves said the existing maintenance program supports some 250 jobs at facilities in Victoria, which could expand to about 1,000 skilled positions. That would include positions to maintain electronic and electrical systems, steel fabrication and other core systems. 'It will be a significantly larger operation than we have today, so it does represent a significant opportunity for us on the West Coast, most likely in the Victoria area,' Hargreaves said. With a 30- to 40-year design life for the subs, Hargreaves added that such an operation would be long-term, building on Seaspan's work to build vessels for the navy and Coast Guard under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The submarine program coincides with Prime Minister Mark Carney's commitments to increase defence spending and reduce Canada's dependence on U.S. defence contractors, which has B.C. looking for its own ways of supporting the effort. Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon wasn't made available for an interview Thursday, but the Globe and Mail reported his confirmation that the province will release its own defence industry framework in October. In a statement in response to Postmedia questions, Kahlon said the province 'recognizes the broader challenges facing our nation' when it comes to defending its sovereignty. He referred to the increased focus on defence as a 'timely and strategic opportunity for B.C.' 'Overall, B.C. is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in advancing Canada's defence priorities, offering proven industrial capacity, cutting-edge innovation and strategic geography that together drive national security, economic growth and global competitiveness,' Kahlon said. In March, Postmedia's Pugliese reported on a delegation South Korea sent to Ottawa that pitched the newly developed KSS-III submarine in its own fleet as an option, with significant benefits for Canadian industry. It is too early to guess whether any bidder has an advantage, but Schönfeld said Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems will look to 'Canadianize our current supply chain,' as the program advances. Canada anticipates a contract award by 2028 with the first delivery of a submarine by 2035. Schönfeld said Thyssenkrupp is expanding its capacity to build submarines for its own program to build 12 submarines for Germany and Norway. But to underline the company's commitment, he said Norway and Germany have agreed they'll adjust their own delivery schedules to make sure Canada could get its first new Class 212CD sooner than 2035. depenner@
Hamilton Spectator
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Federal officials say wildfire forecast shows high risk of more fires in August
OTTAWA - The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. More than 55,000 square kilometres of land has burned so far this year, an area roughly the size of Nova Scotia. That is more than double the 10-year average of the area burned by mid-July. There were 561 fires burning as of Friday morning, including 69 that were considered out of control. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says almost 3,300 fires have been recorded this year so far. The record was set in 2023, when more than 6,000 fires burned more than 150,000 square km of land — an area larger than all three Maritime provinces put together. That devastating season, where wildfires raged from Newfoundland to B.C. for months on end, sparked significant public pressure for the federal government to create a new kind of disaster response agency. Former emergency management ministers Bill Blair and Harjit Sajjan both mulled the idea of such an agency during their time in office, with both ministers acknowledging the strain natural disasters have put on the Canadian Armed Forces and the provinces and territories. The government said it was looking to the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency and Australia's National Emergency Management Agency as potential examples. Final decisions on that front still have not been made. During a Friday afternoon briefing with several of her cabinet colleagues, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said her department will be making changes to how it responds to wildfire seasons, which are becoming longer and more severe. 'We think that the formation of such an agency could have a very positive impact on our ability to co-ordinate how we respond to national disasters across the country,' Olszewski said. That could mean having regional water bombers to respond more quickly to fires in areas that have fewer resources, she said, or leaning on a 'humanitarian task force' to ensure people can be deployed where they're needed. Matthew Godsoe, a senior director of the government operations centre at Public Safety Canada, said natural disasters are outpacing the capacity of the country's emergency management system. 'In that current context, maintaining the status quo is equivalent to doing less,' he told reporters at a technical briefing Friday, adding that all levels of government and individual Canadians must work together 'to slow or stop this nearly exponential growth in disaster losses that we're experiencing as a country.' The federal government has been called in to provide help five times this wildfire season, including last week, when the Armed Forces and the Red Cross helped to evacuate more than 2,800 people from Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. Olszewski said she expects to have an update on a federal emergency agency in the fall. In the meantime, communities in high-risk areas are bracing for things to get worse in the next two months, which are typically the most active months of the fire season. Saskatchewan has already seen one of the worst fire seasons ever in terms of the total area burned, and a record number of people have been forced out of their homes in that province. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said 39,000 people have been forced to evacuate from 66 First Nations, mostly on the Prairies, calling the fire season unprecedented. 'It is, I hope, not the new reality that we have to live with, but I'm asking myself what this looks like,' she said. Gull-Masty said the government's goal at the end of the wildfire season is to 'come together, debrief, reflect, and put tools in place for the next possible time that this occurs.' Officials said the fire risk typically rises throughout August as temperatures get hotter, and they are predicting higher than normal temperatures for most of the country next month. 'This is consistent with climate change projections, which show that the next five years will be warmer than (we) are used to,' said Sébastien Chouinard, the director of operations at the Canadian Meteorological Centre. August is also slated to bring below-normal rainfall levels for the Prairies, B.C. and the Maritimes. More than 530 firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S. are in Canada to help. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said his department is setting aside $11.7 million over four years to create the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, an agency he said will 'connect domestic, international governments, the private sector, wildfire scientists and experts and affected communities to share knowledge, science and technology so we can fight fires better.' The consortium is part of Canada's commitment to a wildfire co-operation charter that was signed at the G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis, Alta., this summer. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
National Observer
18-07-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
High risk of more wildfires for Canada in August
The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. More than 55,000 square kilometres of land has burned so far this year, an area roughly the size of Nova Scotia. That is more than double the 10-year average of the area burned by mid-July. There were 561 fires burning as of Friday morning, including 69 that were considered out of control. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says almost 3,300 fires have been recorded this year so far. The record was set in 2023, when more than 6,000 fires burned more than 150,000 square km of land — an area larger than all three Maritime provinces put together. That devastating season, where wildfires raged from Newfoundland to B.C. for months on end, sparked significant public pressure for the federal government to create a new kind of disaster response agency. Former emergency management ministers Bill Blair and Harjit Sajjan both mulled the idea of such an agency during their time in office, with both ministers acknowledging the strain natural disasters have put on the Canadian Armed Forces and the provinces and territories. The government said it was looking to the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency and Australia's National Emergency Management Agency as potential examples. The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. Final decisions on that front still have not been made. During a Friday afternoon briefing with several of her cabinet colleagues, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said her department will be making changes to how it responds to wildfire seasons, which are becoming longer and more severe. "We think that the formation of such an agency could have a very positive impact on our ability to co-ordinate how we respond to national disasters across the country," Olszewski said. That could mean having regional water bombers to respond more quickly to fires in areas that have fewer resources, she said, or leaning on a "humanitarian task force" to ensure people can be deployed where they're needed. Matthew Godsoe, a senior director of the government operations centre at Public Safety Canada, said natural disasters are outpacing the capacity of the country's emergency management system. "In that current context, maintaining the status quo is equivalent to doing less," he told reporters at a technical briefing Friday, adding that all levels of government and individual Canadians must work together "to slow or stop this nearly exponential growth in disaster losses that we're experiencing as a country." The federal government has been called in to provide help five times this wildfire season, including last week, when the Armed Forces and the Red Cross helped to evacuate more than 2,800 people from Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. Olszewski said she expects to have an update on a federal emergency agency in the fall. In the meantime, communities in high-risk areas are bracing for things to get worse in the next two months, which are typically the most active months of the fire season. Saskatchewan has already seen one of the worst fire seasons ever in terms of the total area burned, and a record number of people have been forced out of their homes in that province. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said 39,000 people have been forced to evacuate from 66 First Nations, mostly on the Prairies, calling the fire season unprecedented. "It is, I hope, not the new reality that we have to live with, but I'm asking myself what this looks like," she said. Gull-Masty said the government's goal at the end of the wildfire season is to "come together, debrief, reflect, and put tools in place for the next possible time that this occurs." Officials said the fire risk typically rises throughout August as temperatures get hotter, and they are predicting higher than normal temperatures for most of the country next month. "This is consistent with climate change projections, which show that the next five years will be warmer than (we) are used to," said Sébastien Chouinard, the director of operations at the Canadian Meteorological Centre. August is also slated to bring below-normal rainfall levels for the Prairies, B.C. and the Maritimes. More than 530 firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S. are in Canada to help. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said his department is setting aside $11.7 million over four years to create the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, an agency he said will "connect domestic, international governments, the private sector, wildfire scientists and experts and affected communities to share knowledge, science and technology so we can fight fires better."
Global News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Canada's military police still resisting civilian oversight, watchdog says
The Military Police Complaints Commission says resistance to civilian oversight in the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal's office 'worsened' last year. The military police watchdog released a report today saying the provost's office — which commands all military police in Canada — has been 'shutting down' complaints based on a 'dubious' interpretation of the National Defence Act. The watchdog says the provost's office is failing to advise complainants of their right to have their cases reviewed by the complaints commission. 1:20 Canada has 'work to do' beyond defence policy update to meet military needs: Bill Blair The watchdog says this is against the law and 'undermines' a complainant's ability to access justice. Story continues below advertisement The report says these problems, which were raised in the 2023 report, have degraded to the point of 'outright refusal' by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal's office to 'respect the oversight regime mandated by Parliament.' Brig.-Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan took over command of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal's office in December, replacing Maj.-Gen. Simon Trudeau, who had held the position for the previous six and a half years.
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mayor of Mayhem review – a jaw-dropping look at a crack-smoking politician who opened the floodgates
I am surprised at how often 2013 feels like a lifetime ago, in political terms at least. That was the year the late Rob Ford, then mayor of Toronto, was reported to have been filmed smoking crack cocaine. He denied it, twisting the allegations into what he suggested was a smear campaign by an untrustworthy, left-leaning mainstream media. A few months later, the city's chief of police, Bill Blair, held a press conference in which he announced that the police had the video in question, and it showed Ford smoking a glass pipe. The mayor was defiant. 'I have no reason to resign,' he said. He didn't. Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem manages to squash the chaos of Ford's many scandals into an appropriately hectic 49 minutes of documentary. (The fact that the police reporting the existence of a crack pipe video is only one of these scandals is telling: a reporter here vividly likens the number of controversies surrounding Ford to 'sweat off a runner'.) It provides a brief account of his entry into politics, and viewers with an interest in the psyche of 'controversial' politicians will be amazed and astonished to learn that, like Donald Trump, Ford was probably motivated by wanting to impress his tough millionaire businessman father, who had been a bellicose politician himself. Ford won Toronto's mayoral race by a landslide in 2010. He was straight-talking, rightwing, and positioned himself as being on the outside of a wasteful and excessively bureaucratic system; he was appealing, says one observer, to both 'bankers and bus drivers'. There were initial reports of earlier controversies, yet to blossom into full-blown scandals: prior drug- and alcohol-related arrests, accounts of him disappearing from official duties to coach a local high school football team. They rippled to the surface and dissipated quickly. Ford said he was only human, and his supporters lapped it up. By 2013, however, reporters and journalists began to hear more stories. Ford's chief of staff, Mark Towhey, recalls a military gala where Ford arrived dishevelled and inebriated, eventually getting Towhey in a headlock. It opened the floodgates to reports of the existence of the first crack-pipe video. The subsequent circus of controversy and chaos turned Ford into an international figure, and, many argue, a punchline. Even so, half of Toronto's residents still thought the video had been fabricated. Towhey says that when he confronted his boss about it, he was troubled that Ford said, 'There is no video,' rather than, 'I didn't do it.' Reporters and staff members recall their time in the Ford family whirlwind with varying degrees of amusement, exasperation and even fondness. It is this cocktail of reactions that makes the story so tempting to view as a model for the populist wave to come. It is easy to transpose Ford's tactics on to Trump's electoral successes, for example. He sowed the seeds of doubt when it came to institutions offering checks and balances on his power. He bamboozled observers, supporters and detractors by repeatedly transgressing boundaries. All of this made it difficult for the electorate to know what to believe. This version of politics as spectacle, no matter what it is that the spectacle is comprised of, has become mainstream in many western nations. There's no such thing as bad publicity, indeed. The tragedy of this zippy documentary is that what was shocking back in 2013 has become relatively ordinary. Ford is shown repeatedly jostling with crowds of reporters. He makes outrageous statements. He admits to smoking crack, and blames being in a 'drunken stupor' for his poor decisions. Still, he doesn't resign. The idea of a public becoming numb to boundary-busting behaviour is floated, very briefly, though there is nowhere near enough time to get into the thick of it. Neither is there space to address the fact that, while this is a story of politics, it is also a story about drugs and alcohol and addiction. At the end, there is the briefest suggestion that Ford had a good side and a bad side, and that he did good, and bad, things for the city. It feels tacked on and trite, and the opportunity to go further is thrown away. But this is jaw-dropping, and provocative, and a reminder of how certain parts of the western world got to where we are. The first Trainwreck, in 2022, was about the horrors of the Woodstock 99 music festival, which descended into a soup of greed, violence and riots. It used its three episodes wisely. Mayor of Mayhem is a frantic, surface retelling of a much more complex, and much more intriguing, story. Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem is on Netflix now.
