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OTTAWA – Pacific Coast shipbuilders need work now and Canada’s navy needs new ships, but both will have to wait up to two years according to an announcement made by four Conservative ministers in Ottawa.

The press conference held earlier today at a military trade-show was largely a rehash of past promises and included few details about the lengthy tendering process or funding sources.

NDP MP Denise Savoie was pleased that Conservatives finally recognize shipbuilding is the viable industry that New Democrats have always maintained it can be, but she remains sceptical.

I spoke with representatives of local unions immediately after the announcement. Although they were pleased to hear the government was finally taking steps to level the playing field for pulp and paper producers in Canada, they raised some concerns.

This plan is designed to offset the depressing effects on Canadian pulp sales by the US black liquor subsidy. Black liquor is a by-product of processing and can be used as an alternative fuel to power mills.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today to Bill C-28. In the view of New Democrats, this was an unprecedented opportunity to invest in Canadians. Instead we see a Conservative government that continues to take Canada in the wrong direction.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, in recent months the Liberal government has provided funding to shore up many regional industries, which includes money to the automotive industry in Ontario, dollars to the aerospace industry in Quebec and cash to support the beef industry in Alberta, but nothing for a strategic industry in the industry minister's own province: shipbuilding.

Ms. Jean Crowder: Mr. Speaker, here is more talk about shipping our jobs overseas. The Liberals love their flags of convenience on lapels or on ships. This offshore outsourcing does not stop with pins. This Liberal government is destroying the shipbuilding industry in this country, bolt by bolt, rivet by rivet.