thestar.com

OTTAWA - The defence department has asked the Liberal government to buy 47 new anti-submarine and search and rescue helicopters at a 1995 price tag of about $2.6 billion, defence and industry officials say.

``This is what we are proposing as a requirement,'' said [Keith] McDonald, the defence department's director general of aerospace develpment. McDonald said the proposal is for 32 ship-borne helicopters for navy frigates and 15 search and rescue helicopters, but stressed it is at a very preliminary stage and had yet to be reviewed by government.

In one of its first acts after election in 1993, the Liberals cancelled the Progressive Conservative government contract to buy 50 high-tech EH-101 helicopters, a deal worth $4.8 billion in 1992 funds. The EH-101s were meant to serve both the anti-submarine and search and rescue function.