OTTAWA - New Democrats opened fire on the Harper government's multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan Thursday, but the attack exposed divisions within the party that the Conservatives were happy to exploit.
The fallout from the decision also spread from Ottawa to Quebec City, where the Charest government faced accusations of being ineffective.
But it was the NDP's stumbling reaction that garnered most of the attention Thursday.
Interim Opposition leader Nycole Turmel accused the government of "picking winners and losers" by awarding $33 billion in contracts to shipyards on the East and West coasts, leaving Quebec's financially-troubled Davie Shipyard out in the cold.
"It is the duty of the government to implement a Pan-Canadian strategy to develop the shipbuilding industry," said Turmel, who favoured the work being divided among the three yards.
Under the multi-decade plan, announced Wednesday after months of consultation, Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax was awarded the right to exclusively bid on $25 billion in naval warship contracts.
Seaspan Marine of North Vancouver was similarly given the strategic partnership for about $8 billion in federal civilian ship contracts.
An additional $2 billion in expected small-vessel construction has yet to awarded and Turmel says that was unfair to Quebec and leaves the province vulnerable.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper pointed out New Democrat MPs, such as Nova Scotia's Peter Stoffer, are in favour of the plan and he urged the Opposition to be more coherent.
"The NDP members are contradicting themselves," Harper told the Commons. "The NDP has got get together and work out their policy on the other side."
Stoffer later brushed aside the division, saying that Turmel was fighting for the interests of her Quebec constituents as anyone would expect. But he then bulldozed the central portion of his leader's argument.
"The reality for Davie is there's lots of work in the future for them to bid on," said Stoffer, who has lobbied successive federal governments for the kind of strategy introduced Wednesday.
"This has to be based on sound economics and on the best business case plan at the end of the day, whether you're in Quebec or elsewhere in the country."
Aside from the remaining federal contracts, Stoffer said there is untold billions of dollars in commercial shipbuilding work out there, including the replacement of Great Lakes freighters.
The man considered one of the leading contenders for the NDP leadership, former strategist Brian Topp, tried to put the best face on the divisions, suggesting the party would face inevitable growing pains as a newly minted federal opposition.
"It is our duty to demonstrate that we are competent and fit to govern," said Topp in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press. "One of the duties of the next leader, whoever wins, is to be attentive to the details of the way our caucus conducts its business and to ensure we are clear and coherent and where we're coming from."
He said he doesn't think lasting damage will be done by the party's split reaction to the shipbuilding strategy.
"I'm not particularly worried about issues that are dealt with in the first year of a four-year Parliament. We are recently hired into this job as Official Opposition and the public is going to be patient with us as we feel our way into the job."
With the shipbuilding strategy in place, the federal government must now begin negotiating individual contracts with the yards in Halifax and Vancouver for the 28 large military and civilian ships expected over the next three decades.
In Quebec, the shipbuilding decision was the source of grief for Premier Jean Charest.
The opposition, already eager to create a climate of unrest, slammed the premier as ineffective because of Davie's exclusion.
Charest told the legislature his government had tried hard to help the moribund shipyard win the contracts.
"The Quebec government made every effort to ensure that the Davie shipyard got the contract," Charest said amid verbal potshots from the opposition.
"We are disappointed with the decision," he said. Before being shouted down, he added that the government will continue to work with the shipyard.
Charest's comments came after PQ member Lorraine Richard demanded to know why the premier hadn't gone to Ottawa personally to lobby for Davie the same way Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter had for Irving Shipbuilding.
Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois said the loss of the contracts is a "scandal" and accused the government of "inaction."
"If you made every effort, this is an example of your complete powerlessness before the federal (government)," Marois said.
The sovereigntist chief said Quebec tax dollars were helping to fund shipyards on two coasts with no benefits returning to the province.
"We're told we only have the chance to fight for the consolation prize, which represents only five per cent of the contracts," she said.
Ignoring the troubled Davie shipyard, which was in bankruptcy protection but is now aligned with SNC Lavalin and Daewoo of South Korea, presented a political problem for the Conservatives. Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney was under pressure to deliver in his own backyard.
