Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is ignoring B.C. public complaints while Conservative MPs in the Lower Mainland have “gone silent,” Fin Donnelly, MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody, argued during question period.
“Why will they not listen to their local communities and reopen the station?”
But Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, while refusing to comment on a possible flip-flop in Quebec, defended the decision to shutter the B.C. facility in February.
He said the Canadian Coast Guard has had an impressive response time in 38 separate distress calls in the Greater Vancouver area since that decision.
In every incident the CCG’s “reaction time” was less than 10 minutes, well below the national standard of no more than a half-hour.
“We are confident the changes in Vancouver have not had any negative impact,” Ashfield said.
His department later amended those figures, saying there have been 75 incidents since the closure and in every case the reaction time has been “less than 30 minutes, which is consistent with international standards.”
The Ashfield-Donnelly exchange came after Quebec newspaper Le Soleil reported that Ottawa had buckled to political pressure from Quebec and therefore wouldn’t shut down the rescue centre.
The government had planned to consolidate operations in Halifax, but said in March it wouldn’t proceed until Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser confirmed that bilingual services would be available for Quebeckers making distress calls.
Ashfield repeated that assurance Thursday, adding that he wouldn’t comment on media “speculation.” Le Soleil, citing a “credible and serious” source, said Ottawa will quietly allow the Quebec City station to stay open without making a formal announcement.
Quebec’s separatist Parti Quebecois government has blasted the proposed CCG reorganization, which also involved the closure of a rescue station in St. John’s.
The Quebec government said Ottawa risked deadly incidents in the St. Lawrence River due to potential miscommunication with anglophone rescue coordinators in Nova Scotia.
Premier Christy Clark has joined a chorus of critics on the West Coast, even noting at one point that Ottawa would have an easier time selling oilsands pipelines to British Columbians if it brought back the Kitsilano station.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, as well as the police and fire chiefs, have also criticized the decision.
“Obviously there was enough pressure put on them in Quebec, and there’s an outcry in Vancouver. Why aren’t they listening to that outcry on the West Coast?” Donnelly said in an interview.
He also said it is misleading for Ashfield to boast about “reaction times” from the CCG’s Sea Island station in Richmond.
The 10-minute figure is based on the time it takes after receiving the call to get one of the station’s hovercrafts in the water.
He cited an incident in English Bay last month involving the heart attack death of a man aboard a freighter in English Bay. Bill Tieleman, spokesman for the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, said it took the hovercraft 25 minutes to get to the freighter from Richmond.
Tieleman speculated to the media at the time that the outcome might have been different had the Kitsilano station still been open.
A spokeswoman for Ashfield dismissed speculation that the closure could be linked to the person’s death.
“In that instance, the Vancouver police department, Emergency Health Services and Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft were immediately tasked to respond, and the Canadian Coast Guard arrived on scene within 20 minutes of the call and immediately initiated first aid,” Erin Filliter said in an email.
“Shortly thereafter, Coast Guard was joined by paramedics of the Vancouver Health Services. It is inappropriate to speculate on alternate outcomes of this incident.”
She said Canada’s search-and-rescue system relies on a “network of responders” — volunteer organizations, local emergency responders, and private “vessels of opportunity” in the area — to provide a “coordinated, effective response” to emergencies.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Peter O'Neil
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