Canada to lead world in building icebreaking ships

No, I’m not under the influence of powerful hallucinogens… I’m merely quoting from a speech made by FM Joly on the occasion of announcing our new Arctic policy. I can’t say what she’s been smoking, but it’s obviously incredibly potent. The so-called ICE Pact isn’t something you hold against your head after falling off the stoop. It’s a US initiative to build icebreakers in collaboration with Canada and Finland. Why these two? Because we’re NATO partners. Of the three countries, only Finland has a track record of building icebreakers that come in reasonably close to schedules and budgets. US shipyards, like Canada’s, are notorious for blowing through timelines and budgets. Check out this sad take from Construction Physics on why America can’t build ships. Canada is only included in the ICE Pact because we are the nominal owner of more Arctic coastline than anyone other than Russia, and the entire rationale for this program is to thwart Russian and Chinese ambitions. Just so you know, Russia has by far the biggest icebreaker fleet in the world. Not only that, but its commie pals have by far the most shipbuilding capacity in the world. Between them, they are and will remain the top dogs in polar navigation. People like Joly who know less than nothing, are therefore prone to making such asinine pronouncements. The chances of Canada becoming an icebreaker construction powerhouse, ever, do not exist anywhere other than in the imaginations of Joly’s speechwriters.