Comox’s coast guard loss Sidney’s gain

At least nine employees are moving their jobs to Sidney after the Canadian Coast Guard closed its marine traffic and services centre in Comox.

Scott Hodge, of Unifor Local 2182, which represents the Comox employees, said he and two others have moved and the rest will arrive soon. Another nine people were unwilling to relocate and have lost their jobs.

“I’m disappointed,” said Hodge, who was part of an effort to stop the closing of the Comox centre.

Marine traffic and services centres act as the marine equivalent of air traffic controllers, communicating with ships as they move into, through and out of Canadian waters. The centres also listen for distress calls and pass along information such as weather warnings and navigation alerts.

The decision to close the Comox station, along with those in Vancouver and Ucluelet, was made by the previous Conservative government. Comox employees were notified March 29 that the centre would close on May 10. Centres in Sidney and Prince Rupert remain open, and the emergency response station in Kitsilano in Vancouver has since reopened.

Critics, including Unifor and Vancouver Island New Democrat MPs, said closing the Comox communications centre was foolish, even dangerous. Some argued that Comox, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, would be sheltered from any tsunamis, while Sidney and Prince Rupert could be at risk.

But on Friday, the parliamentary standing committee on fisheries and oceans, which was reconsidering the closing, accepted the Canadian Coast Guard’s argument that mariner and public safety wouldn’t be imperilled by the move and gave its approval.

In a dissenting report, the New Democrats pointed out that of the 6,000 total marine emergency calls handled annually in Canada, the station at Comox handled 1,000.

Surrey Liberal MP Ken Hardie, who sat on the nine-person com- mittee, said there will be close monitoring of the coast guard communications systems.

“In our view, the closure could proceed but with caution,” he said.

Hardie said while coast guard managers all expressed confidence in the radio communications system along the B.C. coast, he has been told it doesn’t always function well and on a few occasions has even stopped transmitting altogether.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, responsible for the cost guard, has promised the committee it will receive regular performance reports on the communications system for the next year.

“We are going to keep a very close eye on the thing.”