NDP Shipbuilders

Jack Layton was in British Columbia on Friday praising his party's commitment to building ships, as the only party with a "shipbuilding critic". Perhaps Jack didn't get the history lesson, but the NDP have a horrific record of shipbuilding in BC. Many BC residents still remember those ambitious relics of 1990s NDP rule, the Pacificat Ferries. The “Manhattan Project” that went horribly awry and arguably represents one of the single largest provincial fiscal f**k-ups in the history of Confederation. Even the Bricklin SV-1 looks like a brilliant idea by comparison.

While the Catamaran Ferry is an efficient design and the province clearly needed new ferries, the NDP insisted that they be built in BC by their loyal friends over at the Ship Workers Union. Rather than take advantage of the comparative advantage of International Trade, they awarded the project to a partisan union that had no experience building this type of vessel. The average Joe may view the decision to “keep the jobs in BC” as noble and productive, but sometimes the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Why buy 3 high quality boats from Germany at a lower cost, when you can buy 3 pieces of shit for twice the price? Once these little aquatic Hindenburgs hit the water the mess went from bad to worse. The boats never functioned properly, the budget flew out of control, plagued by mechanical problems, and their wakes hit the BC waterfront with the force of a minor tsunami.

By the time these marvels of stupidity were decommissioned in 2003 less than 5 years after rolling off the assembly line, the NDP had already been guillotined by the Campbell Liberals. While Layton has to offer some nuggets to NDP members down on the docks, the rest of the country should not be taking advice on building ships from the NDP. Last year these boats were purchased by the United Arab Emirates for pennies on the dollar.

Je me souviens...