Vancouver mayor calls for talks with PM over coast-guard station closure
VANCOUVER – City councillors in Vancouver want to discuss the closure of a local coast guard station with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Elected officials have passed a motion calling for talks with the prime minister and are also asking the city’s fire department and police to help keep the Kitsilano coast guard station open.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced in May that it would close the station and three other B.C. coast guard communications centres because of budget cuts.
The station is considered the busiest coast guard base in Canada and responds to more than 350 calls a year.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says there’s a good chance people will die if the facility is closed and relocated to Richmond, B.C.
Robertson says he wants the police and fire chief to write to the federal government, saying it’s not the city’s job to rescue people on the water.
(CKNW News 980)
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