After Ottawa cancels Ukraine military contract, pressure grows to explain
Global News
Conservatives say the contract's cancellation risks making Canada appear as an unreliable ally to Ukraine and undermines commitments to bolstering the domestic defence industry.
The federal government is refusing to say why it quietly cancelled a contract for refurbished military vehicles for Ukraine that the Canadian company involved says it is still “ready, willing and able to supply.”
Defence Minister David McGuinty told the House of Commons defence committee this week that his department had cancelled the contract with Armatec Survivability in Dorchester, Ont., near London, to refurbish 25 light armoured vehicles, but said he couldn’t explain the reason behind the decision.
Conservatives say the contract’s cancellation risks making Canada appear as an unreliable ally to Ukraine and undermines the Liberals’ commitment to bolstering the domestic defence industry.
“Until just in the last week, everybody thought this project was just delayed but was still on track for delivery, and Armatec was still saying that they just needed the funds to start flowing so they could start refurbishing the vehicles,” defence critic James Bezan said in an interview Thursday.
“I blame the government on this one.”
Conservatives tried to get answers from Stephen Fuhr, the secretary of state for defence procurement, at the House of Commons defence committee Thursday on why the contract was cancelled, but Fuhr deferred to McGuinty and the Department of National Defence (DND).
“I don’t know” why the contract was cancelled, Fuhr repeatedly said.
Conservative MP Scott Anderson asked Fuhr how much of the $250 million he said the contract was worth has been lost, and whether the money was included in Canada’s plan to reach two per cent of GDP in defence spending this fiscal year.
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