Navy reserve fleet to be cut in half
Posted May 13, 2010 04:12:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Federal cuts to the Canadian Navy are forcing the smallest branch of the Canadian Forces to mothball half of it’s fleet of coastal patrol vessels.
Peter Stoffer, the Member of Parliament for Sackville-Eastern Shore, calls the decision a “kick in the ass.”
“And with the 100th anniversary of our Navy and the proud tradition they have, here come the Conservatives, once again, promising so much and delivering so little and actually cutting the navy budget literally to the bone,” said Stoffer, speaking on News 95.7’s The Afternoon News with Tom Young.
The Navy has 12 Kingston-class reserve ships, six of which will now be placed in long-term storage.
“When it comes to the Navy, it seems to be the one, I don’t want to say picked on, but it seems to be financially the one that gets reduced the most,” says Stoffer.
The Navy says they can no longer afford to operate all 12 ships.
Meanwhile Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter calls the decision a concern.
“(Defence Minister Peter MacKay) would have my full support in making the case to the cabinet and the Prime Minister on the importance of Naval operations,” says Dexter.
