Thank you, Minister, and thank you for the question.
I'm happy to report that the construction of large ships for the navy and the Canadian Coast Guard is under way at both Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax shipyard and at Seaspan's Vancouver shipyard.
Suffice it to say that both the budgets and the schedules for the shipbuilding strategy were done many years ago, before blocks of ships had actually been constructed in these yards. We now have a much better idea of what a realistic schedule is, what challenges they'll encounter, and what efficiencies they're going to be able to achieve.
We have received an integrated program schedule for Vancouver for their whole program of work. We're currently analyzing it to see whether we have any questions about it, whether it works for us, and what the schedule will be.
As I believe the committee is aware, the Royal Canadian Navy has an urgent requirement for interim capability to refuel its ships at sea, and in November 2015, Federal Fleet Services was awarded a contract for the provision of interim auxiliary oil replenishment capability for the navy. The conversion of an existing vessel in Quebec remains on track. It's expected to begin service in January 2018 and will bridge the gap until the joint support ships are delivered.