Monday, July 26, 2004

Thin Cats, Fast Cats...

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Good morning Mr. and Mrs Canada and all ships at sea, and all ships in the air too. We are suddenly more important way out here on the left coast. Five, count ‘em, 5 out of 38 "Outstanding Canadians" named in the latest cabinet. Outstanding.... Heh. Out standing in a field of SOMETHING. Don’t get any on your shoes. Ujjal gets the health portfolio. Say.. didn’t that guy used to be Premier of BC? An NDP premier? If you’ve been reading this blog long enough you already know what I think of that guy and his buddies.

Ferries contract goes overseas. WTF? An order for a half a billion dollars worth of ferries will be awarded in the fall to a European shipbuilder. Why? They say the local shipbuilders can’t handle it. Not enough buildings, cranes and people. There was enough "infrastructure" in 1990 when the Spirit of Vancouver Island and the Spirit of BC were built here. Now they say the industry that did the work has shrunk to 20% of it’s capacity.

I was thinking this would happen when the NDP forced the industry to build those idiot fast cats. I thought "Who the fuck would ever buy ferries from these guys again?" I don’t think it’s the builder’s fault.

They built woefully inadiquate ships for way too much money, and the ships were almost immediatly sold for 1% of their cost. Real bad planning all around, but a stench of an idea in the first place.The government shot the industry in the foot and is now about to kick it in the ‘nads.

They say the vessals can be built cheaper in GERMANY. Ya, sure. German stuff has always been known for it’s LOW COST. Heh. (Hey... trade ya that Beemer for this Valiant!) Their wages are actually higher than ours. BC cancelled an earlier bidding process for a smaller ferry, where BC wages were lower.

The most annoying thing is there is no mention of the 25% FEDERAL DUTY ON IMPORTED VESSELS. The feds will scoop $125 million out of YOUR pockets just to avoid the local unions.

A disaster for the local shipyards? Duh.



2 Comments:

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Thursday, August 10, 2006 8:35:00 AM  
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006 6:37:00 PM  

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