COMMENT: Halifax wins $25B shipbuilding contract

The celebrating continues as Irving Shipbuilding wins the $25-billion contract to build 21 shipsfor the navy.

Ajubilant crowd cheered the announcementWednesday at the Halifax Shipyard.

Irving, which built the last warships, edged out Seaspan in Vancouver and the Davie shipyard in Que. Seaspan won an $8-billion contract, while Davie was shutout.

What are people saying in Halifax and beyond? Read on to find out.

"It means that we're going to be able to bring people home and to allow them to have prosperity here in the province"Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter

"When I started here 31 years ago and it was up and down and up and down and now the kids that are coming in here today, they can actually look at retiring here. It's amazing"Jamie Vaslet, CAW Marine Workers Federation in Halifax

"As an apprentice, it's life-changing. Now we know we're set for life. It's the best feeling in the world right now"Matt Chisholm, shipyard worker

"It's easy to celebrate because we won. But I can tell you there were a lot of days when there wasn't ships to build"Steve Durrell, president, Irving Shipbuilding

"There's going to be economic benefits in the housing market, for restaurants, for barbers, for hairstylists any sector of the economy will gain and benefit from this"Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly

"About 40 per cent of the next benefits of the project go to other parts of Canada besides Nova Scotia, and that's to buy high-technology goods and services from a whole range of suppliers, so there's even strong potential spinoffs for shipyards within Atlantic Canada"Elizabeth Beale, president of Atlantic Provinces Economic Council

"Every business in town will see an effect on this. There's no question that it will be bringing more business to town and the people in town will feel more secure and will be spending more money"John Huskelson,owner of a Chrysler dealership in Shelburne, N.S.

"I think there's a lot of people out west who will be delighted to come home. So we feel good about that. We have about 10,000 applicants at the present time on file. People want to come back"Jim Irving, CEO of Irving Shipbuilding

"It was the best low-risk proposition for the government, and I think the Conservatives are going to be very strict when it comes to dollars"Ken Hansen, research fellow at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies