Federal Tories considering more service cuts along BC’s coast

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – By as early as this summer, the Conservative government wants to shut down some of the marine traffic communication centres along BC’s coast.

The opposition feels the move will only put people’s lives and our waterways at risk.

The Tories say it’ll save the government a few hundred thousand dollars and what they’re trying to do is modernize the system.

But what does that mean?

“That was the question I had. What it looks like is shutting down the service that we had on the coast. We used to have the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station in the busiest port in the country, servicing mariners in distress. Luckily we still do have five marine communication traffic service centres providing the communication service for the coast, but the Conservative plan is to close three stations and to leave two stations on the coast and there will be absolutely, after these closures, zero presence in Vancouver,” says NDP MP Fin Donnelly.

He doesn’t understand the move given the public outrage that followed the closure of the Kits Coast guard a couple of years ago.

“There wasn’t anybody that I could find that was supportive of that move and now they’re closing three of these MCTS stations and that will leave two — one in Victoria and one in Prince Rupert to monitor the entire coast and the Conservatives are talking about increasing tanker traffic and this is going to decrease the safety.”

Donnelly feels the current system is also problematic and needs upgrades rather than being shut down.

“When their highly-flawed tracking system the Coast Guard is using right now, when it fails, managers are being told to tell officers to use post-it notes to track ferries, tugs, tankers and other ships. And there is only one cable going into each of these centres, so that means when the cable service goes down — they’re hooped. There is no back-up. These vital centres that are supposed to be using world-class technology often fail and then they’re using these post-its notes which is no way to run our service.”

Of the five centres in BC, the Conservatives want to close the ones in Ucluelet, Vancouver and Comox.

UPDATE Feb 20, 2015 11:25 a.m. — The Canadian Coast Guard has issued the following statement:

The Government of Canada is investing in the Canadian Coast Guard’s infrastructure to take advantage of today’s latest technological innovations to deliver Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) at strategic locations across the country.

The modernized MCTS centres will enhance the operational effectiveness of their services. Equipment will be more reliable, service disruptions will be reduced, and coverage will remain exactly as it is today because the network of radio and radar towers across Canada will not change.

As new and more effective radio and navigation technologies become available, the Canadian Coast Guard can integrate services and consolidate centres. In the 1990s, new technology allowed us to reduce the number of centres from 44 to 22 with no reduction in the level and quality of services to mariners.

MCTS centres primarily broadcast information and monitor vessel traffic. They also provide marine distress and general radio communications, broadcast maritime safety information, screen vessels entering Canadian waters, regulate vessel traffic in selected Canadian waters, and provide marine information to other federal government departments and agencies.

The safety of Canadian mariners has always been and will continue to be the top priority of the Canadian Coast Guard: that commitment is unwavering and we will continue to triumph as we evolve and adapt to make better use of new technology.

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