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jollyjacktar said:As a HT, I would have to start as an apprentice. No Red Seal for us.
Could you in your spare time at a shore unit upgrade yourself to get close to your red seal say in welding?
Just curious.
jollyjacktar said:As a HT, I would have to start as an apprentice. No Red Seal for us.
Is that CF or FMF?jollyjacktar said:If you retire with your contract complete, or 24 year + a day, you are eligible for an immediate annuity. That cannot be taken from you.
Haletown said:I'll predict the navy contract will go East coast and the coast guard contract will go West to BC.
Quebec won't get either but will do very well in the end, as will all shipbuilding capacity in Canada.
Quebec will whine on and the media will drone on about Quebec blah, blah, blah . . .but the reality is Davie yards is a bankrupt political hell hole that would be a money sucker and political headache for the life of the contracts.
Harper is smart enough to know not to pull a boneheaded move like Mulroney did when he stole the CF18 contract from Manitoba and gave it to Quebec to buy their votes.
At least he better be smart enough. If he isn't, he's toast in the West.
MightyIndustry said:Is that CF or FMF?
jollyjacktar said:I'm in the CF. I'll also clarify further. I am at present short of 24 years + a day, however, I have completed over 20 years service. I have earned and am entitled to an immediate annuity should I release from the CF. I would be subject to a stringent penalty if I do so before I reach the 24 year + milestone as I am on an IPS (indefinite period of service) contract which will allow me to serve until the age of 55 years if I so choose. As I am CF not Public Service I cannot give you chapter and verse on their pension rules.
Occam said:The penalty is not as much as you make it sound. The reduction is 5% for every full year of service short of 25 years, so if you had 23 years and one day, it would only be a 5% reduction. The reduction cannot take you below the protected minimum (2% x 20 yrs) pension.
MightyIndustry said:BTW
From what I understand (and I'm probably the only guy here that didn't already know this-so ecuse my ignorance) there is no more double dipping. There is one federal pension, and only one federal pension.
Oldgateboatdriver said:You mean, the ones for which they were, allegedly mind you, not given the same plans? http://forums.army.ca/forums/Smileys/Armyca/grin.gif
Occam said:"The whole bidding process has been unprecedented," said the senior government official. "Everything has been done to ensure there is a fair result."
E.R. Campbell said:How much of a strategy is it gong to be?
What is the AIM of our shipbuilding policy? Near term AIM? Medium term AIM? Long term AIM?
Because I really don't know: what share of the Canadian shipbuilding industry is from the Gov't of Canada (Navy, Coast Guard, Fisheries & Oceans, Crown Corporations, etc)?
Where do provinces - e.g. BC which has a big public ferry fleet - fit into the strategy?
How do we do on private and off-shore sales? Are the oil rigs, that we build, for example exported?
What about design? Are we a nation with a capable naval architecture infrastructure - one that can design for export?
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Personally, I would like a truly national plan: one that says "we (Ottawa and St John's and Halifax and Fredricton and Quebec City and Toronto and Victoria) plan to build about x warships, y coast guard and fisheries research vessels, etc and z ferries over the next 20 years. We expect to keep n yards on the Pacific Coast, in the Great Lakes, in the St Lawrence and on the Atlantic Coast busy with a total of about __number__ permanent jobs."
From a regional industrial/employment perspective, n jobs with a 20 year + "lifespan" is better than 3n jobs that only last for six or seven years.
Harper’s team keeps hands off $35-billion shipbuilding hot potato
jane taber
OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Monday, October 17, 2011 1:38PM EDT
It’s the $35-billion contract that no politician wants to own.
A bureaucrat, not a federal politician, is expected to make the announcement about which two Canadian shipyards will win the mammoth contract to build warships and non-combat vessels this week.
The reason for the hands-off political approach is pretty simple: Three shipyards are in the bidding – one in Atlantic Canada, one in British Columbia and one in Quebec. Only two will win.
So, in effect, whoever makes the announcement will be announcing the loser. And the loser could very well be from Quebec.
No federal politician wants to be part of that.
“There is no upside, which is why the federal government has been falling all over itself to run away from the decision,” a source close to the process told The Globe.
Memories are still fresh, even though it happened back in the 1980s, of the repercussions that resulted from Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservative government awarding the CF-18 maintenance contract to Quebec instead of Winnipeg.
Stephen Harper’s Tories don’t need a repeat of that.
For the current bid there are three shipyards – Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax, the Seaspan shipyards in Vancouver and the Davie yard in the Quebec City area, which has been plagued by financial troubles – in contention.
One will receive a $25-billion contract to build combat vessels; the other is to receive about $8-billion to build ice breakers and a naval supply ship. There will be about $2-billion for smaller vessels, which could go to the losing shipyard or the other yards that bid.
What is equally interesting about this process is the secrecy around it. In leaky political Ottawa, even insiders and politicians including Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who is from Nova Scotia and B.C.’s Heritage Minister James Moore say they don’t know who’s going to win.
Even the Prime Minister reportedly doesn’t know.
Only one hour before the announcement is to be made will Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose – who is the lead minister on the file – be informed.
To guard against any whiff of regional favouritism or political influence, the Conservative government has tightly structured the process.
A committee of deputy ministers is making the decision. A company from Britain is evaluating the technical merit of the bids, according to two insiders close to the bid process.
The insiders believe only two people in the entire city know what the decision is – and even then, only one would know where the combat piece of the contract is going and the other would know where the non-combat portion is going.
The much-anticipated decision could be made public as early as Wednesday.