Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the minister for her detailed response.
I would like to shift gears a little and ask about a different matter. In 2015, folks in and around the Lower Mainland were horrified to see the impacts of the Marathassa bunker oil spill that occurred in English Bay. In fact, we did not find out about this spill until almost 24 hours after it happened.
Unfortunately, the shipping company that was responsible for this spill was never held accountable because of the environmental laws as written in the Environmental Protection Act. One of the main reasons we did not find the spill for almost 24 hours was that the Kitsilano Coast Guard station was shut down.
I was hoping the minister could please explain to us the importance of reopening this Coast Guard base as a mechanism to keep our ocean communities safe from such a spill ever happening again.