Prime Minister Mark Carney said the federal government will pour $11.3 billion into Quebec’s shipbuilding industry to build six new icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.
Carney called it the “largest” shipbuilding contract in the province’s history.
The new ships will replace the coast guard’s aging heavy and medium icebreakers, fulfilling a promise made in 2019.
“We will move fast. The first steel will be cut next fall, the first ship will be delivered five years later, and the full fleet will be in service five years after that,” Carney said.
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“They will work in Atlantic Canada, the St. Lawrence throughout the depth of winter, and in our Arctic throughout the summer.”
Carney made the announcement alongside Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette at the Chantier Davie shipyard in Lévis, Que., where all six ships will be constructed.
Fréchette, who is about to head into a provincial election campaign, called it a great day for Lévis.
She said the contract will protect the province’s economic sovereignty and create good careers, such as welders and technicians.
Carney said the contract will support 5,000 jobs during their construction.
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The vessels fall under the federal government’s “Buy Canadian” procurement policy, and will be built with Canadian steel, Carney’s office said.
The announcement comes just days after trade talks with the United States collapsed, and as President Donald Trump issues new tariff threats against Canadian industry.
In 2024, Ottawa announced an initial $19.6-million contract to Davie under the national shipbuilding strategy to design the six new Polar Class 3 icebreakers.
The coast guard is going through a large fleet renewal, with the national shipbuilding strategy expected to oversee delivery of 88 new vessels in total by 2045.
— with files from Kyle Duggan in Ottawa
Ah, of course Carny(sic) must pander to Keebek and screw the west over as usual.
Ah yes the ice breakers that started at 8.6 billion in 2019 is now 11 by 2026 and nothing has been built way to go you losers!
Liberals are a joke.
But our ferries are built in China? Buy Canadian
I have to wonder why they are re announcing this from 2019. Has the Abortion Horse been repurposed into an all occaision announcement for Quebec whenever votes from there are needed…
Are they powered by wind or electric.
$11 b will turn into $25b the project will be a disaster of failed deadlines,cost overruns, corruption and vanishing cash.
It’s all to score political points for the Liberals. It’s a debacle in the making.
MORE ALBERTA TAX DOLLARS going to Quebec to build these ice breakers, QUEBEC a HAVE NOT PROVINCE, my foot. QUEBEC, CANADA’S NEW FEDERAL GOVERNMENT managing and spending ALL our provincial tax dollars in QUEBEC now through Carney.
I work at Seaspan. We have no capacity. All the major slots are tied up, all our SOC’s are full of hulls segments and parts. Only smaller refits and conversion work here and there. If you don’t work there, please F off
What about Manitoba; we got our own steel plant in Selkirk; we could build icebreaker tugboats in Churchill for use when Churchill becomes an expanded operation.
@Anonymous Seaspan has the capability of taking on more work, but they are asking for subsidies to take on their work. Production costs are much higher and therefore goverment support is needed to increase the backlog (Business in Vancouver article). The bigger question is why it costs $11B CAD to build 6 icebreakers – with first delivery in 6 years!. The US signed an agreement (October 2025) with a Finnish company to build 11 icebreakers – 4 in Finland and 7 in the US – for $6.1B USD. With first delivery in 2028! By the way, a Davie shipyard in the US is building 3 of the US icebreakers.
We do need new icebreakers. We do not need new submarines.
Another reason Quebec is not going to separate. We keep supplying them with federal business, or money. How much is Carney providing for a pipeline to the northern BC coast?
To be fair, the west coast military shipbuilding (Seaspan in North Vancouver and Esquimalt) is already booked up for like the next 10 years on military ships….
More and more for the east and f*ck the west is Carney’s mantra.
and what about the west coast??????