Fisheries committee  As announced by the Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, they are waiting for the Commissioner of Official Languages' report before they close the Centre de sauvetage maritime de Québec. The discussion in the media about the exercise that occurred in Halifax is not quite a

Fisheries committee  There's more than one bilingual employee. There are three stands, one English and two bilingual, in the Halifax search and rescue centre. I'm not sure where the idea of one person came from. That's not in fact accurate. In MRSC Quebec, there's a single stand. It's one person who

Fisheries committee  Well, I'm not quite sure what you're asking.

Fisheries committee  Okay. The changes that the coast guard has made as a result of the deficit reduction action plan, the cuts we're making, have been effectively conducted this year. We did close the Kitsilano coast guard station, but we have opened the inshore rescue boat, as committed to. The hov

Fisheries committee  The closure of the Kitsilano coast guard station has cost savings that have been announced, and they are, as stated, about $700,000. The cost of creating the small structure for the inshore rescue boat was part of the plan, and it was considered in the gross costs; therefore, the

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. Thank you, David. As you're aware, the coast guard is undertaking a significant project to consolidate our marine communication and traffic services centres. That consolidation is predicated on a complete overhaul of the technology behind the operators, with entirely

Fisheries committee  Absolutely.

Fisheries committee  I can tell you absolutely that Assistant Commissioner Vija Poruks was not fired. She is on leave. She has chosen to leave the coast guard after a long and illustrious service in the public service, many years with the coast guard. She was in absolutely no way fired.

Fisheries committee  As the commissioner said on Tuesday, we are taking the recommendations of the Commissioner of Official Languages very seriously as we plan the consolidation of the MRSC Quebec into JRCCs in Halifax and Trenton. We will not proceed until we are certain that the level of safety pr

Fisheries committee  Yes, we did.

Fisheries committee  The linguistic requirements in Halifax have already been increased to a bilingual level of CBC. They were BBB. So yes, we have raised the levels already in Halifax, and we will do so in Trenton.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Kamp. When discussing search and rescue, it is critical to understand that there is no one asset, no one element of the program that ensures a safe rescue. We are very confident in the decision that has been made, and that the system, and SAR is a system of system

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, we do. The Amundsen is in refit right now. We have a continual cycle of pulling a vessel out and putting it through refit.

Foreign Affairs committee  Generally we have seven icebreakers available for work in the Arctic in the summer. The Amundsen is dedicated to science, not to regular coast guard business. So with one in refit, we would have six in total, five doing coast guard work.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.