The NDP’s federal environment critic
Megan Leslie said she has read Marine Atlantic’s explanation of the sale of two
former gulf ferries, but she’s not satisfied with the answer.
The controversy about the sale of the vessels was
raised after The Gulf News obtained photos of the ferries formerly known as the
MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood and the MV Caribou beached at Alang , India
The photos confirmed what had been rumored for
weeks - that the ferries had gone directly from North Sydney to the beaches at Alang , India
Alang has a reputation for unsafe working
conditions and unsound environmental practices, and that presents a problem
according to MP Leslie.
She said legally, Canada
“There are practically no labour standards and no
environmental standards,” said MP Leslie of the yard at Alang. “What this says
to me is this government agency is getting around the rules we have in place in
Canada doing something that
we would never allow to happen in Canada
In a 7-page document released by Marine
Atlantic last Wednesday, the Crown corporation gave a detailed account of how
it went about selling the two ferries.
The document disclosed that the MV Caribou was sold
for $3.875 million and the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood was sold for $3.8
million.
Marine Atlantic
said one stipulation of the sale was that any dismantling of the ships would be
done in a “green” facility up to International Marine Organization (IMO)
standards.
For the opposition critic, the green disposal
clause in the sale contract points to a bigger problem.
“If they knew enough to put it in as a term of
sale, then they knew enough to know it might be breached and they knew enough
to know these ships might end up on a beach in India,” said MP Leslie.
The ships were sold to two separate buyers but
ownership changed hands within a few months to a single owner called Best Oasis
Limited of India
Until last week, Best Oasis Limited’s website had
the Caribou and the Smallwood listed under its list of achievements. Some ships
under the achivements list had a date under the heading “date beached” although
the Caribou and Smallwood did not.
Sometime last week, that list was replaced with an
email address and a notice telling readers to write the address for more
information on the company’s achievements.
In its explanation of the sale, Marine Atlantic
said the buyers’ failure to have the ships recycled at a “green” shipbreaking
facility “would constitute a breach of the terms of sale and Marine Atlantic
will consider its options up to and including legal action.”
Marine Atlantic
said it did not recycle the vessels itself because it would not fit into its
business model and the corporation lacks the expertise to do such work.
 |
The Smallwood, left, and the Caribou are beached
side by side at
|
The corporation said it did not pay to have the
vessels recycled because it was seeking the best financial return for the people
of Canada
MP Leslie wondered if the federal government might
have found opportunity in developing a green shipbreaking industry in Canada
“I don’t know if that is feasible but it is worth
exploring,” she said.
She also noted the shipbuilding contracts are to
replace aging military vessels. She said if it’s too late to do something about
the ferries, the federal government needs to make plans so outgoing military
vessels are disposed of properly.
While Marine Atlantic has said legal action is a
possibility, MP Leslie said she doesn’t see that as a realistic option
considering the potential cost.
What she would like to see is the problem addressed
so that this doesn’t happen to more Canadian vessels.
“You don’t get to say ‘I don’t want to deal with
our rules so I’m going to ship our problem overseas.’ That’s not actually the
moral or ethical thing to do. It is our problem because they’re our vessels.”
Source: Gulf News. 7 November 2011
http://www.gulfnews.ca/News/2011-11-07/article-2797655/Federal-opposition-questions-disposal-of-ferries/1
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