MacKay says “Ships Start Here” made no difference in competition
Posted Oct 20, 2011 12:53:46 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The “Ships Start Here” ad campaign, backed by the Dexter government, rallied support throughout the shipbuilding bid process. But now that the decision has been made, and Halifax won, the federal defence minister says that campaign can’t take any credit.
MP Peter MacKay says the provincial NDP will have to answer for the money that was spent: 620-thousand taxpayer dollars out of the overall $1.4-million campaign cost.
“It was made very clear to everyone at the very beginning that political lobbying, advertising, arm-twisting, trying to take credit throughout the process, was to be discouraged,” said MacKay on Maritime Morning with Jordi Morgan. “It was money that would have no impact on the eventual outcome.
The province says it spent your money on marketing within the Maritimes. Irving put up more than half a million dollars for the lawn signs, pins, web site and national marketing..
The province says it needed students to start thinking about shipbuilding as a career. It says we needed skilled workers to think about coming home, and businesses to think about ramping up the supply chain. A spokesperson says people wanted a Premier who stood up with Nova Scotians in a broad partnership to help people across the country understand that this was a truly Canadian bid.
