The mayor wants the federal government to breathe new life into an industry that left the city decades ago.
Mayor Keith Hobbs and city manager Tim Commisso have lobbied two federal ministers to remember Thunder Bay when it comes to awarding shipbuilding defence contracts.
“It might take some work to revamp the shipyards but we’re on the biggest great lake in the world and a huge port so we’re saying ‘utilize it and don’t forget Thunder Bay in the process when you’re putting out these contracts,” Hobbs said.
“I don’t know how realistic it is, but we have to try. If you don’t shoot you don’t score and we have to put ourselves out there and market our city.”
Recently, $25 billion worth of contracts were given to Halifax and another $8 billion to Vancouver for shipbuilding.
Lakehead Marine and Industrial did bid on the competitive process, however, were not available for comment.
Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO Tim Heney said there’s potential for some work but entire ships would be difficult to build here because they would have to be small enough to fit on the Seaway.
“It’s very difficult to build a complete ship in our yard but there’s certainly some opportunity there,” he said.
“On a global scale we’re pretty small.”
