B. C. Conservative MP defends Ottawa’s closure of coast guard station
Valley minister Kamp claims democratic mandate for decision, says west coast boaters are well- served, but opposition furious
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has a democratic mandate to shut the Kitsilano search- andrescue station, a B. C. Conservative MP said Wednesday during debate on an opposition motion to reverse the decision.
Randy Kamp, MP for Pitt Meadows- Maple Ridge- Mission, stressed that the closure is being done in a way to ensure public safety. He also said B. C. in general and Vancouver in particular have had an aboveaverage level of Canadian Coast Guard rescue services for many years.
“The fact is, when Canadians went to the polls on May 2 of last year they delivered a strong and clear mandate to us,” Kamp, parliamentary secretary to Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, said during debate on the government’s omnibus budget bill. “Canadians chose public safety balanced with fiscal responsibility … Canadians asked that the government provide the same service at reduced cost.”
The NDP motion was defeated by a 152- 136 margin, with all opposition MPs voting in favour of the motion.
Kamp said the closure, scheduled for next spring, was done with careful consideration for public safety. He said the coast guard’s hovercraft station at Sea Island in Richmond, 17 nautical miles from the Vancouver harbour, will combine with five coast guard auxiliary stations in the Greater Vancouver area — Howe Sound, Indian Arm, Delta, Crescent Beach and Richmond — to assist people in distress.
He also stressed the presence of a new inshore rescue boat station, involving trained students, to be operated at Vancouver harbour from May to September starting next year.
Kamp also said Vancouver’s is the only major Canadian harbour that has had a coast guard rescue station, and that the Kitsilano and Sea Island stations are closer than any other two stations in the country. B. C. has more coast guard rescue assets than any other province in the country, he said.
Opposition MPs denounced the move, saying the Harper government shouldn’t be risking public safety to balance the budget.
“The protection of the public must be the top priority of every government,” said Fin Donnelly, the NDP’s deputy fisheries critic and MP for New Westminster- Coquitlam.
The closure, made public last month by the union representing coast guard employees, has been criticized by the B. C. government, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, editorialists, and a variety of critics such as recreational boaters and current and former coast guard employees.
“Yet the government refuses to listen to the very people who know the region, the waters and the services that are required to keep people safe,” Donnelly said.
Green party leader Elizabeth May ( Saanich- Gulf Islands) said British Columbians are “scandalized” and “horrified” by the decision. Liberal Hedy Fry ( Vancouver Centre) also denounced the closure.
The NDP motion also demanded the reversal of closures of rescue stations in St. John’s and Quebec City.
It calls on the government to “recognize that saving lives is the top priority for coast guard search and rescue services, and that local service and knowledge, as well as the ability to communicate in the language of the communities served, are essential to delivering effective and timely life- saving operations and, therefore, must reverse the decisions to close the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centers in St. John’s and Quebec City and the Kitsilano coast guard station in Vancouver.”