Our Government at work!

Peter MacKay announced yesterday that Canada's Govt. has awarded a contract to a U.S. company named Navistar for 1,300 logistic trucks for the military……adding no Canadian company was able to meet all the requirements of the Canadian Forces.

The Canadian military will buy 1,300 militarized trucks from Navistar International (NAV.N) unit Navistar Defence LLC, Warrenville, Ill. for C$274 million ($230 million), Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday. He said in a statement the off-the-shelf vehicles will be the logistics backbone of the army. The trucks will be delivered by the company over an 18-month period starting this summer. Representatives for Navistar said they are required by the contract to spend $274 million over the next seven years on goods and products from Canadian companies. For instance, the tires on the vehicles will be manufactured by Michelin in Nova Scotia.


The Canadian Forces in the Maritimes will receive 302 vehicles, Quebec 262, Ontario 398 and the West will get 338 trucks.


The sputtering Navistar truck plant in Chatham is cutting another 200 jobs, raising worker concerns that it could close altogether. The reduction on March 1 will jack up the number of workers on layoff at the plant to more than 1,000 and has left union leaders questioning the plant's future now that there are fewer than 200 workers remaining.

So Navistar was able to build heavy commercial trucks for domestic on the road use in its Canadian plant but apparently this plant cannot build army trucks for domestic use? But lets be fair we get to supply the tires made in Canada by another multinational corporation and having spent $274 million this year, get some of it back over SEVEN years, probably in at least some “goods and services” from Navistar in Chatham, if it still exists by then!