Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be able to participate in this debate. As a member for a riding in the southern Vancouver area, I certainly appreciate the official opposition supporting and calling for the reopening of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base. I want to point out to my friend opposite from Sarnia—Lambton that we have also lost Environment Canada's environmental emergency bases that were located across Canada and that we have lost the marine contaminant program within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
There has been a significant curtailing of capacity to handle environmental emergencies. I will just share briefly with the House that when I was a lawyer in Halifax years ago, there was an emergency at the dockside with a container ship where toxic chemicals had spilled into one another. It was an Environment Canada staffer from the environmental emergencies office that has since been closed on the east coast, as we have lost ours on the west coast, who showed up to take control of the operation and make sure that people were properly protected.
There is no longer a command centre to respond to oil spills. It is far too ad hoc. I ask my hon. friend if she would not agree that Environment Canada should have a leadership role when a spill takes place.