Central Nova MP and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay is joined by CEO of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. Jim Irving and Minister of State for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Bernard Valcourt for the Atlantic Shipbuilding Action Plan announcement Feb. 13. (Submitted photo)

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Central Nova MP and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay was amongst the dignitaries in Dartmouth last week for the formal announcement of the Atlantic Shipbuilding Action Plan.
The plan is billed as focusing on maximizing opportunities for firms across the Atlantic region to participate in the $33 billion federal shipbuilding initiative announced late in 2011.
MacKay joined fellow Minister Bernard Valcourt and CEO of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. Jim Irving for the announcement.
“These shipbuilding procurements represent a historic opportunity that will generate economic growth and create jobs in the four Atlantic Provinces in rural and urban communities,” Valcourt said. “With this action plan, we want to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises throughout Atlantic Canada are in the best position to seize all opportunities related to these major procurements. This is a great occasion for us to foster a new generation of entrepreneurs who will acquire the expertise to compete on the world scene.”
MacKay picked up on the benefits point in an interview with the Casket later in the day of the announcement.
“(The plan) sets out in some detail the opportunities that will be available to smaller Atlantic Canadian shipbuilding companies,” MacKay said.
“There will be online programs that will allow people to access information about the overall shipbuilding procurement strategy. This is also aimed at helping to attract skilled workers, maximizing the benefits of this $33 billion program.”
As for whether the benefits will reach up to this part of Nova Scotia, MacKay said the demands will be such they could touch on all sectors and areas of the province.
“There are suppliers, manufacturers and certainly those with the skills that will be required, so it goes across a number of sectors,” he said. “Steel manufacturing, information technology, defence systems and integration… a lot of small and medium sized enterprises across Central Nova including Antigonish and Pictou County could be affected.”
MacKay said he expects seizing the opportunities will be a competitive process.
“We’re obviously looking out for tax payers’ dollars while trying to get the best product at the end of the day,” he said. “But even the independent, I would call them small ‘c’ conservative, estimates see as many as 15,000 jobs over the next number of years. Three thousand to 4,000 in the next year alone.”
Noting the announcement comes on the heels of Nova Scotia scoring the lowest population growth percentage in the country, in the recently released census, MacKay said the opportunities presented by the plan and shipbuilding initiative overall could positively impact those figures.
“I know for certain there are people outside of Atlantic Canada that would jump at the opportunity to come back if a good paying job was there,” MacKay said.
“Mr. Irving told me, so this comes right from the horse’s mouth, that within six weeks of Irving receiving this contract they had received in excess of 20,000 resumes and a lot of those, I suspect, were coming from places like Fort McMurray… displaced Atlantic Canadians who would love to come home.
“There is the equivalent of a homing pigeon in most Atlantic Canadians I know that wants to bring them back but the opportunity has to be there and they have to be able to support themselves and their families.”
Post-secondary institutions could also be benefactors, MacKay said, adding he hopes they develop new or expand on existing programs geared towards taking advantage of the skill sets about to become in major demand.
“For trade schools, there are going to be more positions for welders, pipe fitters, electricians, technicians and just on-going maintenance,” he said.
“And in universities as well,” he added. “Programs pertaining to engineering, the type of high tech jobs associated with defence industry and ship building in particular. So ‘yes,’ there is very much an education component to this and that’s part of the strategy as well. It’s about optimizing this opportunity because it’s once in a generation it comes along.”