Coast guard patrol ships to be pulled from service 'sooner than expected,' amid pressures from new security mandate

OTTAWA — A long-troubled fleet of coast guard patrol ships that the Canadian government paid hundreds of millions to build will be pulled from service “sooner than expected,” an internal document shows.

It comes as the civilian agency braces for more demands under its new surveillance mandate from Prime Minister Mark Carney, who announced back in June that it would be folded into the National Defence Department.

Newly released documents obtained by National Post detail the internal deliberations that took place inside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the immediate days following the Prime Minister’s Office confirming it would be reassigning responsibility for the Canadian Coast Guard to the defence portfolio.

The change came as Carney announced his government would accelerate the country’s defence spending, in part by shifting the coast guard to a more security-focused role, which would allow it to be counted towards its NATO spending target.

Following that June announcement, an internal meeting was held between the fisheries department’s national enforcement officer, responsible for overseeing its conservation and protection efforts, and a senior coast guard official about the impacts that shift could have on the agency’s role in that task.

According to a set of meeting notes, the coast guard official flagged that capacity could be an issue, given its new role and an aging fleet.

“New (Canadian Coast Guard) security mandate is expected to create new pressures from (other government departments) to increase use of (Canadian Coast Guard) platforms for border and security purposes,” one excerpt read, released to National Post under federal access-to-information legislation.

“Emphasis was placed on assumption that RCMP and CBSA need for security and border work using (Canadian Coast Guard) platforms is likely going to increase in near future.”

The official also flagged how the remaining fleet of the coast guard’s mid-shore patrol vessels, specifically designed to perform surveillance, rescue and enforcement of Canada’s coasts, would be retired earlier than anticipated.

“Mid-Shore Patrol Vessels (MSPVs) won’t see life expectancy (140 footers–48 meters),” according to the notes. “These vessels will be removed from service sooner than expected (within a few years).”

Questions were also raised about their replacement plan.

A spokesman for National Defence confirmed in a statement that the coast guard’s eight mid-shore patrol vessels, delivered between 2012 and 2014, carry a life expectancy of 25 years. That means the oldest has currently been in service for roughly 13 years.

The coast guard, according to the statement, was gathering information from users, such as the conservation and protection program, as well as the RCMP, about requirements, which, once finalized, would inform a procurement process.

“The Canadian Coast Guard is undertaking a comprehensive fleet renewal program to modernize its fleet and ensure continued delivery of critical services to Canadians. This strategic initiative includes multiple vessel classes in various stages of design and construction, working closely with Canadian shipyards through the National Shipbuilding Strategy,” wrote Craig Macartney.

This $227-million fleet, also known as Hero-class ships, has been anything but heroic over its less than 15 years in the coast guard. Only two years after the Halifax-Irving Shipyard delivered its final ship, a series of media reports revealed the ships to be plagued with various design flaws.

At the time, Irving pushed back that the issues were minor . One year later, the ships’ galleys needed to be redesigned so that crews could cook safely on board. In 2019, CBC News reported that officers on various vessels complained about how the ships rolled “like crazy” at sea, making crew members seasick and unable to work.

Those problems now appear all the more concerning as the government boosts the agency’s patrol mandate .

Jody Thomas, former national security adviser to Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, and a past coast guard commissioner, said the vessels were never right to begin with, and that the coast guard will have to reassess its needs when picking a replacement.

“I think the problem with them was that they were too small and too light for our coast and they took a beating, and therefore have had to come out of service sooner than anybody would have expected,” said Thomas.

“They wanted a fast, small fleet, but maybe it was a bit too small.”

One of the nine ships is now a pile of metal, having been scrapped earlier this year after it was sabotaged in 2018 while docked for repairs at a Nova Scotia shipyard. Police have since closed the investigation without laying any charges.

Thomas said the eventual replacement ships would need to be outfitted differently than the Hero-class vessels to include information-collecting equipment such as radars and sensors.

A response from the RCMP has not yet been received. CBSA spokesman Luke Reimer said while the agency was continually looking at ways to strengthen its partnerships, including with the coast guard, “we do not have any specific changes to our working relationship with the Canadian Coast Guard to share at this time,” he said in a statement.

Internally, emails show the coast guard official’s words back in June were not well received by the fisheries’ top bureaucrat, who sent a sharp rebuke directly to the coast guard’s commissioner.

“This is very concerning,” Annette Gibbsons wrote to agency commissioner Mario Pelletier on June 16.

“I don’t know how Neil (the official) has the authority to make these statements. To be clear, the direction from the (prime minister) is that core (Canadian Coast Guard) functions remain unchanged. (Canadian Coast Guard) cannot unilaterally deprioritize core support to (Department of Fisheries and Oceans).”

About an hour later, the official responded, calling how his words had been summarized “disappointing,” adding that he “repeated several times” how its services would not change for current users, including around conservation and protection.

“This is what the official government direction to us says,” he wrote. “I then added that if we are asked to take on more security type requests from partners, we will need to look at how to expand our fleet to do this.”

National Post

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