Canadian military contracts with Port Coquitlam firm

A Port Coquitlam company will play a pivotal role in the fabrication of state-of-the-art mobile shelters that will be used by the Canadian Armed Forces.

Wesgar and Wesgar Completions have been contracted to provide sheet metal and assembly work for 400 of the 900 units expected to be built over the duration of the three-year contract.

The first mobile shelter rolled off the assembly line Thursday and will be used as part of the Canadian military's overseas missions and humanitarian operations.

Ray Castelli, the chief executive officer of Weatherhaven, a Burnaby company that designed the units and received the federal contract, said the project shows that Canadian manufacturers can compete internationally.

"We won the contract in a competitive bid, beating out U.S. and European suppliers," he said. "We can build this project ? even though it is a $130-million project ? we can do all this work in Canada."

Weatherhaven and Ottawa's DEW Engineering teamed up to bid on the contract in August 2009.

Castelli said $60 million worth of work will be conducted in British Columbia, divided among a supply chain consisting of 47 companies.

He believes there is opportunity to potentially export the units, noting there is significant interest in the product from Australia, Brazil and Europe.

The mobiles shelters can be outfitted into 30 different configurations, operating as medical clinics, kitchens and command centres.

Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Minister James Moore said the units will replace 30-year-old technology that is currently being used by the Canadian Armed Forces.

"The greatest threat to the health and safety of the men and women in our armed forces should never be their equipment," he said. "And if Canada wants to be a leader on the world stage we want to make sure they have the best equipment possible."

The Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam MP said the shelters are not only useful for military applications but humanitarian missions as well. He pointed to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as an example of where the mobile units could be useful.

Eighty full-time jobs will be created in B.C. over the course of the three-year contract.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com

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