No pork alert

Oh dear, what will the Tories do?

The Conservative government's $200-million plan to refurbish almost half of the 100 surplus Leopard 2 tanks being purchased from the Dutch has hit a snag.

There's currently no company in Canada capable of quickly improving up to 40 Leopard 2A4 armoured vehicles in order to meet the rigours and dangers of Afghanistan.

An undetermined portion of the contract will likely have to carried out overseas, says a senior defence official.

"Obviously, we'd like to do as much of it in Canada as possible but, of course, we currently don't have any capability in Canada to do heavy armoured vehicle work, and so there is consultation with industry taking place," Dan Ross, assistant deputy minister of materiel at National Defence, said in an interview with The Canadian Press...

As part of the initial purchase phase, roughly $200 million was set aside to upgrade the used tanks, primarily with air conditioning and better armour, meant to withstand roadside bombs. Both O'Connor and Fortier said Canadian industry would see great benefits...