OTTAWA - House of Commons fisheries committee chairman Gerald Keddy has received a positive response from Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn regarding the jobs of Coast Guard employees in Nova Scotia.

The South Shore - St. Margaret's Member of Parliament asked the minister during a televised fisheries committee meeting if he could "guarantee that those jobs will be secure" in regards to the move of the Coast Guard icebreakers Louis St. Laurent and Terry Fox to Newfoundland.

Minister Hearn replied that "there isn't one job that will be lost in this process. In fact, we have a five-year period for transition. Consequently we will protect the jobs."

The Minister indicated that jobs will be transferable to new vessels slated to be stationed in Halifax and Dartmouth. In the next few years, the Coast Guard’s Maritimes Region will be home to four new vessels; two midshore patrol vessels, an offshore fishery science vessel, and an offshore oceanographic science vessel based out of Halifax. The new ships will be built in Canada but a tender has not yet been issued.

Keddy says the Liberals' opposition to the moving of the icebreakers to Newfoundland is puzzling since it was their government that initiated the changes.

"These transfers are being made to avoid spending $10 million on new facilities in Dartmouth when the infrastructure is already in place in Newfoundland to accommodate the vessels," said Keddy.

“My job is to assure Nova Scotians that there will be no job losses,” added Keddy. “Workers will be protected in the jobs they are in and offered first refusal on the new vessels to be stationed in Halifax."

The Conservative government has committed $750 million to the Coast Guard since taking office.

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For more information:

Gerald Keddy MP

South Shore - St. Margaret's

Ottawa office: 613-996-0877