Prime Minister Stephen Harper has visited the Méridien Maritime Reparation shipyard, in Matane, Quebec, and praised the progress in building three new Canadian Coast Guard vessels that will be used to help protect Canada’s inshore fisheries. Canada’s Economic Action Plan has funded the project which created jobs and helping to support Canada’s shipbuilding industry.
Prime Minister Harper told that the new vessels will benefit maritime communities by providing valuable scientific insight into preserving and replenishing inshore fisheries. The new vessels will be based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Shippagan, New Brunswick; and Mont-Joli, Quebec. They will replace existing vessels nearing the end of their service lives. These new vessels will serve as platforms for scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conduct valuable oceanographic and scientific research.
The contract for the vessels was awarded in February and is being funded through Canada’s Economic Action Plan. In the Economic Action Plan Budget of 2009, the Harper Government allocated $175 million for new Coast Guard vessels and for the repair of aging ones.
