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Firstly, the article referred to in the newspaper was pretty feeble at best and there didn't seem to have been a lot of research done by the reporter. Although the focus of the article was McQueen’s Boatworks (a fine and long standing player in the BC boatbuilding community) you have to wonder if the references to other yards were just thrown in as a side note without any due diligence.
Currently the busiest yard in Vancouver is arguably Richmond Yachts, and yet there was no quote from anyone at that yard, nor for that matter any quotes from any other of the builders in BC.
The dollars quoted by this reporter as to the value of some of the projects also makes you wonder if this was a job assigned to someone who has either no interest in what they where writing about and just fluffed the article up to make it appear that they had done at least the required minimum research or they were just too lazy to fact check.
B.C Builders have had a hard time lately, but the industry is surviving and will continue to produce vessels of outstanding quality. We have gone though downturns like we are currently experiencing before and have emerged stronger.
For many years we took advantage of the US dollar exchange and unfortunately, as is human nature, we became somewhat complacent. As long as we can learn from these current hard times and experiences and come back with a more aggressive and cost conscious attitude we will do just fine.
Westbay Sonship because of it size (at one time the largest builder in the lower mainland) moved a little slow in protecting itself against the rising CDN dollar and they were dealt a hard and painful lesson. As a fellow builder I have also been fed a plate or two of this bitter soup, but I, like I’m sure the Vermeulen family, will move on and work hard to reestablish some of the great companies from the Pacific Northwest.
Westbay Sonship is not closed, although they are down to a skeleton staff, they are still open and moving forward and it is the hope of all of us in the boatbuilding community here in B.C that they survive and rebuild to again become a powerhouse in this area.
“If you haven’t heard a rumor by 9:00am, start one” both this newspaper article and the ultimate stated demise of Westbay seem to be a victim of this statement
Jim Hawkins
Crescent Custom Yachts
Queenship Marine Industries
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Westbay Sonship Status? 
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