When Conservative leader Stephen Harper was in Victoria last week he ducked a question about whether $80 million in duties should be waived on German-built ferries built for British Columbia.

A reporter raised the duty issue as part of a question about the related concern that the federal government will buy supply ships for the military overseas.

“Our intention has been to do a build in Canada and buy in Canada,” Harper said. Shipyards will be kept busy supplying the government, he said, but more orders may soon go overseas. “We have some real serious capacity constraints in terms of what we need and what those shipyards can provide at a reasonable price.”

He added, “We'll take whatever actions are necessary to protect the interests of the Canadian taxpayer at the same time when we're making these multi-billion dollar procurements.”

But Harper failed to answer the part of the question about whether he would forgive the $80 million in import duties owed by the BC Ferry Services Inc. for three Super-C class ferries built in Germany under a 2004 contract. BC Ferries has been asking for the duties to be waived on the three ships, which may be docked to save money on fuel, and had the support of outgoing finance minister David Emerson.

The duties should be charged, said George MacPherson, president of the Shipyard General Workers' Federation. “It was just part of the deal going in,” he said. Canada has no free trade agreement with Germany and there was interest in building the ships here, he said.

The duties are part of a bigger battle, he added. “We think the government may be looking to do away with their buy in Canada policy.”

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. You can reach him here.