Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary talked about the need to balance fiscal responsibility versus public safety. That is valid.
However, this is from the party that has the largest deficit in the history of Canada, owing to huge tax reductions to big banks and big oil at less than half the U.S. rates.
In terms of public safety, the environment does not feel safe, pensioners do not feel safe, scientific researchers are certainly not safe and mariners are not safe.
The other big issue here, besides rescue centres, is the question of marine communications and traffic services. The government is going to kill the one in Thunder Bay, and then the closest one will be either in Sarnia or in B.C., and the government has picked Sarnia. How can staff there possibly understand and serve the needs of Thunder Bay with half the people and twice the workload?