THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

May 10, 1989 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 $2 pages 25¢

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JOHN GOSLING lowers the Vancouver Naval Veterans flag during ceremonies commemorating the
Battle of the Atlantic during World War i. The ceremony took place at Sailor’s Point in North Van-
F couver Sunday. Gosling served in the North Adantic and the Pacific between 1942 and 1945.

THRE NORTH Shore’s two Conservative

ar 8 icebreaker

led

MPs voiced

dramatically differing views on the future buoyancy of the
$350 million Polar Class 8 icebreaker contract destined for
North Vancouver’s Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. follow-
ing word Monday that a decision on vessel construction
would be delayed to the spring of 1990.

Capilano-Howe Sound MP
Mary Collins denied stories that
the delay was the result of a gov-
ernment decision to shelve the pro-
ject temporarily, and emphasized
the government’s continuing
commitment to the project.

“The story is not true,’’ she
said. “It is not a yaverament deci-
sion to delay it. The problems are
(those of) design and contract
definition.”” -

Collins, the associate minister of
defence, said the construction
delay was due basically to delays in
submission of design plans for the
vessel and delays in completing the
sale of Versatile to Snieldings Inc.
of Toronto.

Construction of the vessel, ini-
tially scheduled to begin this year,
was awarded in a federal govern-
ment letter of intent to Versatile in
August 1987.

But project cost estimates based
on a vessel with the diesel-electric
propulsion system specified by the
coast guard pushed the project a
reported $70 million over budget.
The federal government  conse-
quently requested a second design
be submitted incorporating a
cheaper diesel-mechanical propul-
sion system.

Versatile president David Alsop
said Tuesday a decision to shelve
the project arbitrarily would have
been a ‘‘scrious devclopment’’, but
he said it was now evident that the
delay resulted from the additional
seven months Versatile invested in
producing the second Polar 8
design and the delay in completing
the sale of Versatile to Shieldings.

He said both designs have now
been submitted to the government
and completion of the shipyard’s
sale, which was originally an-
nounced Jast December, is ecx-
pected ‘‘in the next two to three
wecks.”’

But while Collins reiterated
Prime Minister Brian Mulroncy’s
statement that the government is
committed to Polar 8, everyone
from fellow North Shore Conser-
vative MP Chuck Cook to ship-
yard union representatives were far
from optimistic about the future of
the icebreaker contract and the
estimated 1,000 jobs it would
create in Versatile’s Victoria and
North Vancouver yards,

Cook, MP for Versatile’s North
Vancouver riding, said Monday:

“I've always had serious doubts
about whether it (Polar 8) would
get built."

As to the Conservative govern-
ment’s commitment to the Polar 8,
Cook said, “They were committed
to the nuclear submarine program
(which was cut in the recent federal
budget).”"”

Marine Workers and _ Boiler-
makers Industrial Union
(MWBIQ) representatives said the
delay will mean more of the in-
dustry’s highest skilled workers
would be lost to other industries
and other regions.

MWBIU president John Fitz-
patrick said it will become increas-
ingty difficult to keep together the

NORTH Vancouver MP Chuck
Cook ...“‘I’ve always had serious
doubts about whether it (Polar 8)
would get built."

crew needed to build the complex
and massive icebreaker in the face
of the latest delay.

**But the question you have got
to ask,"’ Fitzpatrick said, ‘tis can
Versatile as a company hold out
for another year?”’

Alsop said Versatile will survive
in its present format ‘‘as long as
the decision to proceed can be
made within the next eight to 10
months. If it is delayed beyond
that point it could cause
problems.”’

He said the shipyard had enough
work to keep it busy to this time
next year, and added that pro-
spects were improving for ship
repair and other work for the yard.