[CaptainCrunch]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/natio...y-patrol-ships

Canada has yet to determine how much Chinese steel and equipment will go into its new naval warships, but it didn’t scale back on such products for its Arctic and offshore patrol vessels even though concerns were raised in 2018

Canada-Chinese relations have been rocky for several years. In October 2022, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre told MPs that China considered itself to be at war with the West and that Canada must rise to meet the challenge.

But that hasn’t changed efforts to source equipment and steel from China for the Canadian navy and Canadian Coast Guard’s new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships, or AOPS.

Steel for AOPS was bought from European suppliers, with about 17 per cent of that being purchased from China. In addition, other equipment on the AOPS, from lifeboats to pipes and fittings to anchors and towing systems, was also produced by China, according to National Defence documents.

Catherine Cobden, president of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said she couldn’t speak about specific projects such as AOPS or the Canadian Surface Combatant, but she noted that the association had been raising concerns to the federal government about the significant influx of foreign-made steel into the Canadian market.

Canadian producers continue to be undercut by countries with a history of unfair trade practices, Cobden said. In 2022 alone, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel came from countries with active anti-dumping cases against them.

In addition, Canadian steel producers are actively trying to reduce climate emissions as well as facing a carbon tax as part of government efforts to fight climate change, but offshore steel producers don’t face the same rules and surcharges.

As a result, domestic firms are losing market share to high carbon, offshore steel at an unprecedented rate, Cobden said. “Our view is that the government needs to ensure they are purchasing green steel. (Canadian firms) have some of the greenest steel.”