First the F-35 and now the Arctic Patrol Ships - What Planet are the Conservatives From ?

Here we go again, another bungled plan by this C.R.A.P. government.

The Harper government's $7.4-billion plan to buy Arctic offshore patrol ships is headed toward a 'titanic blunder,' because the ships are not adequate for working in the region, a couple of independent think tanks say.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/arctic-patrol-ship-plan-headed-disaster-says-report-173503084.html

Will it never end? Cost cutting, trickery and concealing information from the public.

The report says the type of ship the government has ordered is a compromise: Harper had promised to buy double-acting vessels which could sail in both directions, with a hull built for navigating the open ocean and a stern for icebreaking.

"For cost-saving reasons, that plan for double-acting vessels was cancelled. They will now be single-acting vessels so the bow has to fulfil both the open ocean function and the ice-breaking function, and as a result, we have a low speed ship," said Michael Byers, one of the report's authors.

Is this cost cutting part of their plan to meet their budget target by 2015?

The current plan is for the Arctic offshore patrol vessels to have a range of 6,800 nautical miles, while the Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers can go between 20,000 and 30,000 nautical miles before they need to be refuelled. If the ships are stationed in Halifax, it is 2,800 nautical miles away from Nanisivik, a refuelling station near Arctic Bay, Nunavut, which has yet to be built.

The hulls are reduced strength and the range is not adequate.

The report also denounces the plan because it says the Cold War ended more than 20 years ago and Canada has a good relationship with Russia, implying these ships are no longer needed. The report goes on to say that remoteness, small populations, low levels of shipping activity and major geopolitical developments have combined to reduce security threats to Canada's Arctic.

This is the same argument that was applied to the F-35 purchase.... why do we need these bobbles if we are at peace with both Russia and China and should there be a threat by either country America would step in since it is in their best interest to maintain Canada as a buffer between them and China or Russia.