SUNDAY November
29 2015
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MacKay Creek back from the brink FEATURE 19
Holiday traditions: Carols & recipes SPORT 51
Handsworth Royals rise up together $1.25
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Seaspan calls on feds to reopen bid
Shipyards CEO wants review of Harper gov’t contract to Quebec shipyard JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
The head of North Vancouver’s Seaspan shipyards is calling on the new Liberal government to take a long second look before continuing with a contract reportedly worth over $750 million that was directly awarded to a Quebec shipyard. Jonathan Whitworth, chief executive officer for Seaspan, said he’s written to new Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, saying his company is still interested in bidding on the contract, which he said Seaspan could complete for substantially less money than the Davie contract. But Whitworth said Seaspan never got the chance to bid, because the previous Conservative government awarded the contract to convert an existing vessel to a navy support ship directly to Davie during the federal election “for political reasons.” “This isn’t about sour grapes or we want more,” said Whitworth. “We have no problem winning or losing (in an) open, fair and transparent (process). We never got that opportunity.” Events leading up to the fight over the massive contract began last year, when the federal government told shipyards it would need a stop-gap solution for a navy supply ship, after being forced to retire two existing ships earlier than expected. Seaspan won the contract to build two new massive
Jonathan Whitworth, chief executive officer for Seaspan, oversees a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the site of the shipbuilding company’s new head office at the foot of Pemberton Avenue. Seaspan expects to hire 1,300 additional trade workers and office staff over the next five years. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD joint support ships under the National Shipbuilding Program several years ago. But those ships aren’t expected to be ready until at least 2020 – leaving the navy in need of a temporary solution. Whitworth said major shipyards from across the country attended meetings See Engineering page 9
City fights downloading of crime lab costs
JUSTIN BEDDALL newsroom@nsnews.com
The results from the crime lab are in. Cause of tax increase: Acute federal and provincial downloading causing blunt-force trauma to the budget.
The City of North Vancouver is pushing back against a federal and provincial plan to shift the costs of DNA lab work from criminal investigations onto the municipalities, something the mayor criticized as just the latest in a series of
downloads. “If anyone is wondering how the provincial government is able to cut their provincial taxes, one only has to look at examples such as this,” added Mayor Darrell Mussatto. “They go ahead and reward themselves by
cutting tax rates and they go and download them onto municipalities and it’s not just in policing, it’s in a number of different areas.” The RCMP Forensic Sciences and Identification See Taxpayers page 5