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

Over a year ago, I began creating this timeline, intending to track two separate but connected stories: Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and more particularly, the large-vessel component of the NSS. The criminal case against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. The impetus was the upcoming trial — scheduled for August 2019 —Read 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

This week, I decided to focus my attention on two (luckily related) stories I’m interested in. Stories I’ve been following for years (eight years for one, one year for the other) but following in a kind of hit-and-miss way. Like I was watching Game of Thrones, but only when IRead...