It highlighted Canadian incompetence, not only during the sailing of the ship but in buying obsolete technology and not checking it over before you use it after it had spent years rusting away unused.
The Canadians were the incompetent mugs and the British were the ones laughing all the way to the bank, like Del Boy and Rodney selling a daft Aussie an old, second-hand car with dodgy brakes and crappy engine for a huge price.