Canadian shipbuilding deal reached

[daleo]

Canada's shipbuilders have agreed to a radical change in the way contracts will be doled out by the federal government.

The federal government plans to spend $40 billion over the next 30 years to build as many as 50 large ships, on top of the 70 ships under 1,000 tonnes that have been earmarked for revamps.
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The government wanted to avoid a repeat of situations last year, when the construction of three navy supply ships and some coastal patrol boats were shelved because of problems with meeting the specifications at the government's budget.

So it brought together the industry's players for two days of private meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Gatineau, Que., to work out an agreement with constructors on a new process that theoretically will allow the government to pick and choose in a more direct way which Canadian shipyards will build which ships. The agreement is meant to end the often intense bickering that has killed some government contracts.
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http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/07/29/shipbuilding-contract.html
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Private meetings, where the government gets to pick and choose who gets multi-million dollar contracts. No need for transparency, bidding, etc.

I suspect this is the reason that The St. John Telegraph printed the grovelling apology to Harper - they want a crack at these contracts, which will be given at the discretion of the government (read "Harper").