The federal government is committing $11.3 billion to Quebec’s shipbuilding industry to build six new icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the new funding on Aug. 24, calling it the “largest shipbuilding initiative in Quebec’s history.” He said the new ships will replace the coast guard’s “aging heavy and medium icebreakers.”
“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 during the announcement in Lévis, Que.
The prime minister said the ships would work in Atlantic Canada and the St. Lawrence through the winter, and the Arctic through the summer. They will work to cut open sea lanes and aid vessels in distress or trapped in ice….