Mr. Speaker, the department of fisheries is threatening to destaff Pachena light station, the lightkeeper who guided the minister to safety.
The minister is promoting this destaffing initiative by his bureaucracy simply by saying nothing. He is more concerned about salvaging his yachting pride than dealing with this issue. Eighty per cent of British Columbians want keepers on the lights.
The minister and a crew sailed a racing yacht from Hawaii to Victoria. Near land they ran into heavy rain and 45 knot winds. He radioed the lightkeepers who guided him to safe haven at Bamfield, 75 miles away from their destination.
The minister shrugs this off with a combination of yachting vanity and political expediency as a no risk non-event when in a storm he ended up in a completely different harbour from where he was headed.
People on the west coast know this is nonsense.