From what we were told, when people make a distress call, they are told to call Quebec. One man on a boat was suffering from phlebitis and waited four hours before getting services in French. When you're on a boat and the situation is serious, as far as I know, you don't know everything that's going on when you call Quebec. The Quebec people answering the call don't necessarily know what's going on. I would prefer to ensure that there are services in French in Halifax and that I'll be answered by something other than an answering machine. Instead, don't you think we should ensure that, on all shifts—emergency centres operate 24 hours a day—people aren't required, in an emergency, to walk around with a dictionary because they don't understand English.
On May 29th, 2008. See this statement in context.