“..search and rescue co-ordination services in Quebec and St. John’s will be consolidated into existing Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centres,” says Frank Stanek, a DFO media relations manager. He said the rescue centre’s closure is part of $56 million in Department of Fisheries and Oceans cuts to Newfoundland and Labrador, promised in this week’s federal budget. But NDP MP from St. John’s East describes the move as negligent. “I think this is one of the most outrageous decisions that I’ve heard out of government in a long time,” he said, arguing the quality of search and rescue services in Newfoundland and Labrador will suffer as a result.”Here we’ve got a rescue co-ordinating centre with coast guard people who know every nook and cranny, thousands of kilometres of coast line, to move that out of Newfoundland and Labrador is an act of negligence,” said Harris.
