As the competition to build and maintain Canada’s next fleet of submarines heats up, Secretary of State Stephen Fuhr is heading to South Korea to meet with senior defence officials to explore opportunities for expanding trade and creating jobs in Canada.
Fuhr is the minister responsible for defence procurement. According to a news release from Public Services and Procurement Canada, the secretary will participate in site visits and engage with leading defence companies.
“Collaboration with like-minded, reliable and trustworthy partners such as the Republic of Korea presents new opportunities for the Canadian defence industry to create good-paying jobs and ensure Canadian expertise continues to support shared security and resilience,” Fuhr said in a statement.
Fuhr’s week-long visit to the Asian nation will include meetings with South Korean National Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back, Lee Yong Cheol, the minister responsible for defence acquisition in the Korean republic, as well as the country’s chief of naval operations, Admiral Kang Dong-gil.
Fuhr will be visiting the Hanwha’s shipyard in Geoje, where the company builds the KSS-III, the model of submarine the Korean defence contractor is pitching to replace Canada’s aging Victoria-class submarines, which require extensive maintenance to remain in the water.
Only one of the four submarines are operational.
Fuhr will also be highlighting the work of the newly created Defence Investment Agency (DIA), which will be responsible for assessing the bids. The deadline for the request for proposals is March 1. South Korea’s Hanwha and a joint German-Norwegian bid, led by TKMS, are the two finalists to supply the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) with up to 12 patrol submarines.
The Korean and German submarines will be assessed on how well they meet the military and technical requirements of the RCN, and when they can deliver the first underwater boats. Canada’s submarines are not expected to be seaworthy past 2035, and it takes roughly six years to build a sub.
But the deciding factor will come to what industrial benefits Hanwha and TKMS can offer Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war has devastated Canada’s steel, aluminium and auto industries, while tariffs have also hurt the country’s forestry sector.
Fuhr’s overseas travel comes on the heels of a visit to Toronto and Ottawa by South Korean government officials, along with representatives of both Hanwha and Hyundai. At the conclusion of the visit, a non-binding memorandum of agreement was signed between the federal government and the Republic of Korea to continue discussions on the possibility of moving some South Korean auto manufacturing to Canada.
Last October, the defence ministers for Germany and Norway visited Parliament Hill to jointly pitch manufacturing submarines in Canada.
Meanwhile, TKMS announced on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with Seaspan Shipyards to support and maintain potential future patrol submarines. The deal is contingent on TKMS winning the submarine contract.
Hanwha has also signed up several Canadian partners to supply its submarine with Canadian technology and expertise. It announced this week that it would loan Algoma, a northern Ontario steel company, $275 million to construct a steel beam plant. Once it is built in Sault Ste. Marie, the beam plant could employ 500 people, about half the number of workers Algoma has been forced to lay off after being hit by punishing U.S. tariffs.
The Hanwha pact is also contingent on the firm winning the bid.
