I last updated my Vice-Admiral Mark Norman/National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) timeline back in 2019, but developments these past two weeks have motivated me to revisit it. Norman, you will recall, was the Canadian naval officer charged with one count of breach of trust for: …leaking cabinet secrets in relation toRead More

Editor’s Note: I’ve added new items to the timeline below, but my real update can be found in this new article, for which I’ve written a new introduction. Rather than repeat myself, I thought I’d let the old intro stand because it still serves a purpose: it explains why IRead More

More than 100 years after shipyard workers in Lunenburg, N.S., shaped wood and metal to build the Bluenose schooner, the tradition of local, hand-built excellence lives on. But now, instead of fishing boats, it’s fighter jets — Brett Ruskin, CBC, 6 April 2022   It’s such an apt comparison. LikeRead More

This week, the FOIPOP findings are just going to be a jumping off point for a check-in with everybody’s favorite Northside shipyard — the one operated by Canadian Maritime Engineering on the property formerly known as Archibald’s Wharf. I’ve covered the controversial sale of that property in detail — thisRead More

The HMCS Kingston, one of the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) 12 Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV), is in dry dock at the CME shipyard in North Sydney for repairs and upgrades, part of a $60 million program to give each of the ships a five-year life extension. National DefenseRead More

Canadian naval historian Marc Milner says the need for the ships that became the HMCS Kingston-class vessels was identified in the 1970s — the Navy wanted to re-establish its minesweeping capabilities and provide training to reservists — but the order to build what would become the MCDVs didn’t materialize untilRead More

Each week, I pick a subject and do my research and try to give some sort of coherent account of what I’ve learned but this week — I give up. I’ve been trying to make sense of the latest developments in the Sydney container port saga and I am utterlyRead More

Sino-Nova Scotian relations I honestly don’t know what to make of Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil’s apparently chummy relations with China at a time when Canada and the People’s Republic are barely speaking (and Port of Sydney promoter Albert Barbusci has been cruelly abandoned by his Chinese backers, a factRead More

Let me begin by saying I do not begrudge Richard Moore and Leslie Wilson, the owners of the Lobster Pound restaurant, their new waterside location in North Sydney. On the contrary, I congratulate them on the location. I think Archibald’s Wharf is a great spot for a restaurant. I thinkRead More

On January 15, NSBI issued the following press release: Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) has approved a business development incentive in the form of an innovation rebate for Canadian Maritime Engineering Limited. For over 30 years, the company has serviced a range of marine and industrial companies including machining, mechanical,Read More