That sinking feeling : Canada's submarine program springs a leak

In June 2010, the Harper government announced the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS), a long-term plan to rebuild Canada's naval and coast guard fleets. The government foresees spending $33 billion over the next three decades on 2-3 Joint Support Ships, 6-8 Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships, and 15 Surface Combatant Ships for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). But nowhere in that plan is there any mention of one particular, significant, readily identifiable and probably imminent procurement: namely, the replacement of Canada's troubled Victoria-class (formerly Upholder-class) submarines. ... Whatever the explanation, the Harper government must be aware of the hazards that submarine procurements have created for previous governments, both Conservative and Liberal. Indeed, there is a clear connection between those earlier problems and the situation in which the government currently finds itself.