Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that rescue sub-centres in Quebec and my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl have both been closed.
There is an argument to be made for keeping both open. In Quebec, obviously, there is a unique language, the language of Quebeckers. In Newfoundland and Labrador, there is the language of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, which is also our own unique dialect. There is an argument to be made for the fact that with our unique dialect in Newfoundland and Labrador, if the sub-centre is moved to Halifax, these mainlanders, even though they are Maritimers, may not understand the unique language of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
On this side of the House we have fought to keep both rescue sub-centres open. However, talking to the Conservatives is obviously like speaking to a wall, especially today with none of the Conservatives getting up to speak about such an important issue.
Another thing I want to mention is the emergency response times for our military's Cormorant helicopters. I am not sure if the people watching this debate today understand, but we have two sets of response times for emergencies in our offshore. Monday to Friday during working hours, nine to five, the wheels-up response time for our Cormorant helicopters is 30 minutes. It takes 30 minutes for them to get off the ground, but outside of nine to five, during evenings, weekends and on holidays, the wheels-up response time for our search and rescue helicopters is up to two hours.
In every respect, when it comes to the health and safety of our offshore workers, the Conservative government misses the boat. It does not have a clue.