Thoughts on BC Politics and More

As he delivered the hard sell pitch last spring for Canada to buy his submarines, Oliver Burkhard, the CEO of Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), used the phrase "strategic partnership" half a dozen times. Canada would be part of "a family," he said. We will — perhaps — soon get a better sense whether that approach is music to the ears of Prime Minister Mark Carney and key members of his cabinet ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

An Esquimalt couple is petitioning the federal government to keep the Royal Canadian Navy’s official marching song, rather than replacing it with an in-house composition that’s more Canadian and in keeping with the changing face of the military. Sherri Robinson said she and her husband, Darwin Robinson, a 30-year navy veteran and former mayor of Esquimalt, want to keep Heart of Oak as the official marching song. “It’s just a wonderful marching song. It’s traditional, and I’m sick and tired of having our traditions thrown away" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The question isn’t why we aren’t buying cheaper ships, but whether we’d be prepared to accept less capability to cut costs.    Building warships is an expensive business, especially if you’re getting back into it after a few decades. Take the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC). Fifteen CSCs will be built at Halifax’s Irving Shipbuilding to replace Canada’s current frigates and decommissioned destroyers. According to a 2022 study by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), the CSC acquisition will cost $80.2 billion. Given that defence inflation is well above regular inflation, and that regular inflation is running hot, that number isn’t going to go down.   Canada’s CSC will be a variant of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship originally designed for the Royal Navy. The Canadian variant includes significant changes to the original Type 26 design, notably to the combat systems. With the estimated per unit cost of each ship topping $5.6 billion, the National Post's John Iv...