Millions of Canadians have stood up for months now … elbows up … to Buy Canadian!
In many cases … purchasing fruits, vegetables, canned/packaged goods, clothing, shoes, appliances … we’ve paid more than if we had chosen similar products made in other countries.
And it hasn’t been just wealthy Canadians earning the big bucks: working middle class Canadians and even seniors on limited incomes have sacrificed and “Bought Canadian” because we care about our fellow citizens who are suffering from tariffs.
Donald Trump’s Trade War against Canada has hurt not only major producers and manufacturers who export to the United States, but their suppliers here as well, the places their workers shop, the mom and pop cafes, restaurants, bowling alleys, service industries etc. where they all spend their paycheques.
“The Conference Board of Canada warned in its latest five-year outlook that the country could lose approximately 160,000 jobs in the second quarter of 2025 as the trade war with the U.S. rages on,” warned the labour rights law firm Samfiru Tumarkin.
And among the hardest hit … Canadian steel and aluminum producers.
“At a 50 per cent tariff, we basically consider the U.S. market closed — completely closed, door slammed shut, if you will — to Canadian steel,” said Catherine Cobden, CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association,” the CBC reported.
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to double import tariffs on aluminum to 50 per cent will rattle key industries like defence and construction and upend more than a century of cross-border industrial cooperation between Canada and the United States, business and political leaders warn,” The Globe and Mail warned.
And yet, BC Ferries … using a red herring excuse that things are so dire, it had to move “NOW” … ordered four new BC Ferries from a state-owned government shipyard in China.
BC Ferries said when it finally did call for bids, on shorter notice, no Canadian shipyards bid on the project
The vessels they will replace will be more than 40 years old. But surely BC Ferries should have prepared/negotiated with Canadian shipyards ten to twenty years ago to replace vessels in the fleet in an orderly fashion, as needed.
What we’re getting now is spin to cover up the lapse.
“It’s equally vital to me that when there’s no Canadian company willing to bid on the contract, that we don’t leave families sitting on the tarmac waiting for a ferry because the propeller fell off, because it’s 50 years old. We need the ferries urgently, and we’ve got to go,” Premier David Eby was quoted in The Vancouver Sun.
BC Ferries have had previous ferries built in Europe, but China’s bid came in cheaper.
Of course!
China’s state-owned shipyards also produce military vessels for the the Peoples’ Liberation Army, the Chinese Navy and Coast Guard and are heavily subsidized.
Their wages, and I’d bet their working hours/conditions/benefits and environmental factory standards don’t come close to those of Canada (or any of our European allies, who have built BC Ferries before.)
“China is cheaper” is a disgraceful excuse for BC Ferries … Premier David Eby and the BC NDP government to proceed with this project.
But let’s keep it real: if the “China is cheaper” excuse is defensible, there’s no longer any need as well for a Canadian auto industry, boat builders, farm machinery manufacturers, appliance companies, clothing manufacturers, or even prepared food products etc. … China can make them all cheaper.
There’s also the hypocrisy of the federal Liberal government.
Federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland, hearing about the BC Ferries decision to “Buy Chinese” sent a scathing letter to B.C. Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth.
“I am dismayed that BC Ferries would select a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build new ferries in the current geopolitical context, and I ask that you verify and confirm with utmost certainty that no federal funding will be diverted to support the acquisition of these new ferries,” Freeland wrote in her letter.
However, it turns out, the federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank is financing the loan to build the ships overseas! (I don’t make this stuff up! LOL!)
So the BC government, the federal government and BC Ferries are awarding an almost $1 billion contract to China … a human-rights abusing, aggressive dictatorship that took two Canadian businessman hostages for over two years, has arrested/imprisoned political protestors and journalists, threatens a military invasion of Taiwan and has interfered MULTIPLE TIMES in Canada’s electoral process.
But China’s cheaper.
It all makes a mockery and fools of Canadians who are paying more to Buy Canadian … proud citizens who can less afford their daily, weekly, monthly sacrifices to support our workers/businesses than the three government bodies now implicated in the shaft-Canada decision.
And how’s this for sad irony: Sunday another of Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy parties disbanded, due to Chinese government oppression. It was called “The League of Social Democrats”.
How ironic that Premier David Eby and the BC NDP government will be rewarding/enriching the Social Democrats’ oppressors.
The China Ferries contract should be canceled … and BC’s integrity should be restored.
Happy Canada Day … before it gets merged with China’s National Day, Oct 1 … because combining the celebrations would be cheaper.
Harv Oberfeld
(Follow @harveyoberfeld.ca on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this Blog.)
BC’s lick spittle, corduroy clad, communists of convenience (AKA the NDP) are obviously not happy with their narrow advantage achieved at the polls?
Fast cat ferries are worth less by the pound than crushed soda cans today, I suppose the NDP still has wounded feelings from how they botched that try, eh?
The politicization of the board at BC Ferries is more than likely a massive part of this issue, the NDP never learn & control of minuscule details beyond their realm of experience will treat them the same as we did when they build useless fast ferries. The current board at BC Ferries couldn’t properly build a popsicle stick boat, but hey those are the HACKS Eby chose to run the system.
(Response: Not sure why, but NDP stalwarts seem to have a soft spot for Communist dictatorships. They have long ignored or been so soft/silent on the cruelty of regimes like Cuba, Russia, China, Afghanistan and Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas, Al Shabab, etc. (Notice they and their labour friends at conventions never pass any resolutions condemning them … only Israel/US/UK etc.!) Then they say they awarded this huge contract to a government-backed, government-subsidized, military-ship-building business in China …which has kidnapped/imprisoned Canadian businessmen, often imposed arbitrary bans and high tariffs on Canadian goods, imprisoned and killed so many of their own citizens, including democracy protestors, Tibetans, Uighurs, artists and journalists … even forced disbandment od the Hong Kong “Democratic Socialist” Party (how ironic!) because China was cheaper. Bet they wouldn’t award such a contract to Israel … even if it had the best bid. The BC NDP government’s highly selective application of principles is totally hypocritical … and they should be called out on it by all true democratic socialists! Ho)
While we’re on the topic of BC Ferries.
Anyone notice the “banning” of EV cars that have mechanical issues?
Seems the Dept of Transport (or more likely Insurance companies) do NOT want EV’s on a ship if they are suspect for battery issues.
I guess the sinking of a THIRD car transporter has insurance companies a tad nervous.
Europe won’t allow ANY EV’s on passenger ferries.
Make no mistake.
Eventually there will be an EV fire on a ferry.
The cars, tightly packed in like sardines, plastic fenders and panels melting and adding to the fire…..gasoline tanks exploding, more cars and trucks spreading the mess….
And if this happens at night, in stormy weather….. good luck evacuating 1500 people.
Yep.
China’s ships will look cheap by comparison to the insurance losses.
No more needs to be said. Thank HO
(Response: Happy Canada Day … and Buy Canadian ..even if the BC government won’t!)
The Canadian politicians involved in allowing these deals are nothing but Canada’s backstabbers. Watch our backs and beware of those kind.
(Response: They are certainly backstabbing Canadian workers/industries on this one! With proper planning … starting a decade ago …they could have come up with a better solution and provided hundreds of thousands of hours of work for Canadians, who would pay millions of dollars in taxes and spend their net earnings at home, spreading the wealth throughout so many communities. They can still do that …cancel the China ferries and keep the existing ships going until the vessels can be built here! Ho)
Unfortunately Harvey, you assume the govt “decision” making process is a timely, efficient process.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Slothful, inept, cautious, endless, talk…and meetings, and emails, and more talk ( with catered lunches natch) until everyone …or no one…makes a decision.
Why make a decision….it might be wrong….. and then…people will blame you…
So, spend years, millions of dollars…and push the tough choices into someone else’s lap…its the bureaucratic way!
Fire 50% of all govt workers …would ANYONE notice?
(Response: After 38 years in journalism, mostly covering various levels of government, the last thing I would suggest is that their “decision” making process is a timely, efficient process”. I believe that, in private industry, any management types who waited so long to make critical capital project decisions for decades until they had to rush the project and then have very limited options or, in other instances, who under-estimated project costs so wildly … they’d all be fired “for cause”, ie. without huge compensation payouts. In the case of the BC NDP, they have proven over the years to be perhaps being well intentioned and motivated, but utterly incompetent in handling major projects/issues involving $$$ (not just BC Ferries, but they also destroyed Granville Street with overwhelming SRO housing for homeless/druggies, total failure in developing mental health facilities … while having $700 Million for seven FIFA games), total failure in dealing with rising fear and crime on BC’s streets, destroying so many businesses … their operation of provincial courts and don’t get me started on their handling of health care!) Ho)
The Eby government’s awarding a still secret contract with the Chinese Government (contrary to what is said, the Chinese government runs the show) to build four ferries, gave me pause to wonder – why?
Certainly the post Trump fiasco would want this sort of construction done in Canada to bolster the local economy and create a demand for skilled labour and the training of such labour.
But no, Eby will have none of that.
There is also a rise of the “NDP shills” on Facebook and other social media claiming that the Chinese were the most skilled engineers in the world, putting everyone else to shame. Well, if one follows the international trade magazines, such as the Railway Gazette, that claim soon disappears. Far too many influencers singing songs of praise about China.
Why then this deal?
I think I may have an answer and that it involves the recent MK.5, Innovia 300 (SkyTrain) deal fleet replacement, because there is a Chinese connection.
When the SkyTrain fleet replacement bid was put to tender, Bombardier, the owner of the technical patents for the proprietary railway ,was selling its rail division to Alstom and it was no secret that Alstom would soon abandon the production of the cars and spare parts, so a contract for new cars had to be inked before the rail division sale was inked.
But there was a problem, as the cars used on the Expo and Millennium Lines are proprietary, there could be no honest bidding process. (The same issue cropped up with Gordon Campbell’s faux Canada Line P-3 bidding process).
It seemed this problem was solved by the Chinese Railway Corporation (CRRC) entering with a faux bid as they had no working model and how could they because the cars used on the E&N Lines are proprietary (one supplier) and as Vancouver remains the only customer for (attractive) Linear Induction Motors powered cars, the cost to develop and safety case new cars would not be cost effective. Added to this, the CRRC may have acquired patented technology illegally from the Advanced Rapid Transit (SkyTrain) system that operates in Beijing and would be open to legal action if such cars were used here.
In simple terms the bidding process for the SkyTrain fleet replacement was, there was no real bidding process! Both the provincial and federal government overlooked as they did not want a scandal over present and past SkyTrain issues.
Why would the CRRC enter into such an agreement? Well maybe for future considerations such as securing future ferry construction contracts!
Then we have the coincidence of having McPhail, Stewart and Denhoff, who sit on the BC Ferries Board, which during the Clark NDP government were part of the cabal that switched from building with LRT to SkyTrain for the then Broadway – Lougheed Rapid Transit project, to ART SkyTrain on what is now called the Millennium line which also absorbed the Evergreen line.
ART more than double the cost of LRT that the project, had to be built in two phases, the New Westminster to Clark Drive section and what was once called the Evergreen Line.
At this point a recap.
What we call SkyTrain is the regional light metro system and consists of two very different railways; 1) The Canada Line which is a conventional railway and 2) the Expo and Millennium Lines which is an unconventional proprietary railway, consisting of the original ICTS/ALRT system (Expo line) and the Bombardier rebuilt ART system (the Millennium Line).
In total only seven systems have been built since the late 1970’s, with six remaining, with absolutely no international interest is the system.
The proprietary railway has had four owners: 1) the UTDC; 2) Lavalin (later to become SNC Lavalin – alarm bells); 3) Bombardier; 4) Alstom.
Bombardier rebuilt the ICTS/ALRT system and marketed it as ART and the proprietary mini metro has had a jaded history, involving the patent holders, Bombardier and SNC Lavalin (SNC lavalin inherited engineering patents from SNC after the merger), with legal action over the payment of “success fees (as termed in the Globe and Mail)” to senior bureaucrats and politicians in Korea and Malaysia (The Malaysian scandal was ground zero for the international SNC Lavalin scandal). The US government upon review found the ART system poorly built and too expensive, refused federal funding, with the Canadian government picking up the tab for the JFK Airtrtain and the Chinese government built one to obtain technology, but found that obsolete in the end.
It is behind this background that the then NDP government and Liberal governments built SkyTrain, built both the Millennium and Evergreen Lines, basically saying it was the best thing since sliced bread.
So when it came for the Skytrain fleet renewal and the need to find an underbidder to try to make the bidding process legit, could it be that the Chinese government played along for future considerations, which happen to be new ferry construction contracts?
It seems to me this is how business is conducted by the government in BC, abetted by the Canadian federal government.
(Response: Far too complicated a theory for me to weigh in on. And frankly, I don’t see our politicians and bureaucrats … or those in China … having enough skills or motivations to come up with so much that is so complicated over such a long period of time! It looks to me like they just awarded the ferries contract on the basis lowest cost …and to hell with human rights principles, foreign relations values, labour or environmental standards. Ho)
Let me simplify.
In Canada, to secure federal funding a project must be put to tender, impossible with a proprietary railway so the CRRC was asked to participate in a phony bidding process with the promise of future considerations on large provincial contracts.
I have been told that this happens a lot in Canada. That “thunk” you heard was my jaw dropping when a engineering professional told me how it happens quite regularly in Canada.
100% correct.
Let’s also remember that the new bridge built in Victoria was delayed due to the discovery of “substandard” steel …from China.
The new Pattillo bridge in Surry currently under construction has been delayed due to “substandard” steel.
Chinese businesses have sold white paint thinner as baby formula to their own people to make a profit.
What corners will be cut?
What substandard materials will be installed?
What Chinese shipyard will care?
Once those ships leave China….they will never see them again.
They will be our expensive problem.
The “City Class” ships ( Queens of Surrey, New West, Coquitlam, etc.) built in the 1970’s in BC are still sailing….45-50 years after they were built.
I suspect the Chinese built ships will be rotting apart by 2050 and all the politicians involved in this revolting decision will be long gone…enjoying their taxpayer funded pensions…..
If the ship were built here…at least we would have the opportunity to hold a local ship builder responsible for any flaws or short cuts.
China?
Laughs at our lazy, slothful ignorance.
We are a cow to be milked.
(Response: And don’t forget What technology will be buried inside the engines allowing China to cripple the fleet if actual hostilities ever do break out involving Canada or Taiwan or other Chinese aggression! Ho)
Thats scary. Good point. I personally think the politicians that are responsible for this have cmmited and are committing real live acts of betray against this country of ours. I guess that would go right to the top of the heap. It’s more than cost saving at work here. Trudeau and his backstabbers get there get no accountability passes and undeserved gold plated pensions intact scammed from Canadians for them to live the good life. No accountability what so.ever. I imagine some of these acts of incompetence ignorance betrayals or whatever, would pertain to some Provincial politicians to a degree also. Bad people.