New Brunswick shipbuilding project gets funding

New Brunswick Naval Center

MAY 26, 2015 — The New Brunswick, Canada, provincial government is to invest $3.8 million in the shipbuilding industry, helping to create more than 75 jobs and positioning the industry for future growth. The funding is in the form of a payroll rebate being provide by Opportunities NB to Quebec base Ocean Group with a payroll rebate of up to $3.8 million to offset salary expenses and help create 77 jobs. The New Brunswick Naval Center will also invest $4 million in the project.

“As a government, we must establish a climate for entrepreneurs and businesses to create jobs by capitalizing on their ideas, their entrepreneurial spirit, and their hard work,” said Premier Brian Gallant. “That is exactly what we are doing today by welcoming the Ocean Group company to New Brunswick. Our priorities are to create jobs, correct the province’s finances, and help our families, and today’s announcement covers those three priorities.”

“We are extremely proud to contribute to the success of this project as a key player in reviving the Bas-Caraquet Naval Centre,” said Jacques Tanguay, Ocean Group’s first vice-president and general manager. “We are consolidating our position as one of the leading providers of maritime solutions in eastern Canada.”

Ocean Group has already hired about 30 local workers and graduates from the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Péninsule acadienne campus, who are currently receiving their initial training at the company’s facilities in Quebec City. They will start working at the shipyard in June.

The company will invest $29 million over a five-year period as it undertakes the first construction project at the Naval Center.

“We are pleased to announce the improvements to be made to our infrastructure and the addition of a new shipyard,” said Naval Center president and CEO Michel R. Beaudry. “The Naval Center is now in a position to work actively with the private sector in reviving the shipbuilding industry in New Brunswick.”