Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in my place today, even though the topic is a bit unfortunate. Being born on Prince Edward Island and knowing the fishing community and the importance of the Coast Guard, I want the parliamentary secretary to elaborate on a question I asked in the House on May 18.
On May 18, I indicated that the St. John's and Quebec City Coast Guard stations were closed down. At the same time the government announced that one of the biggest and most important Coast Guard centres in Canada would be closed down. Kitsilano is a very important Coast Guard base. The government also sent out 763 notices to Coast Guard employees, telling them they were no longer required by the Government of Canada.
Having lived all of my life among fishermen and along the sea, I am well aware of how important the Coast Guard is.
Although the issue in Kitsilano is on the other coast, this base responds to hundreds of emergency calls every year. It is located in one of the largest ports. About five million people pass through this port every year. Billions of dollars pass through this port every year. Every year 75 to 100 of the calls that Kitsilano gets are life-threatening. Some of those calls can be from people who are attempting to take their own lives or whatever. The Coast Guard has people prepared to handle these kinds of things. It is just so unfortunate that the likes of this would happen.
The mayor of Vancouver has clearly stated that there could be a high risk of increased fatalities due to the Kitsilano Coast Guard base closure. It is a massive concern for all of those in Vancouver. The City of Vancouver does not have the mandate or the resources. In the meantime, Mayor Robertson has said that the people of Vancouver and across the country should inform their members of Parliament that this is totally unacceptable. I hope that having had a number of people indicate to their members of Parliament how serious this is, I will get an indication from the parliamentary secretary that things will change.
The Coast Guard station in Quebec City has closed down. St. John's has also closed, and it had 500 search and rescue incidents a year. The station covered 900,000 square kilometres and 30,000 kilometres of coastline.
We are talking about people's lives. It is important to note that a Fifth Estate investigation showed that Canada has one of the worst search and rescue response times in the world. If an emergency happens in the evening or on the weekend, it sometimes takes four times the normal time for search and rescue teams to respond.
I hope when the parliamentary secretary responds to this question he will understand, he will listen to the people of Vancouver and he will take their information. Hopefully he has convinced the government that the Kitsilano Coast Guard base should remain open so that no lives will be lost on the west coast of this country.
Also, I hope the parliamentary secretary will indicate that instead of releasing 763 people from their jobs in the Coast Guard, he will indicate that more well-trained people, as those in the Coast Guard are, will be employed.