Shane Woodford | Email news tips to shane.woodford@corusent.com
5/17/2012
 The Union of Canadian Transportation Employees confirms the federal government is going to shut down the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station.
National president Christine Collins says they are being told the station responsibilities will be moved to Sea Island.
"And the response time slow down can be approximately doubled so if we are saying zero to 30, we would then take that 30 to an hour for a response time so it raises a number of concerns in response time for sure we are very concerned that lives will be lost."
Collins says last year the station responded to 285 calls and has already had 70 so far this year and the busy season has yet to arrive.
She says the union will fight the move and they are hoping Kits residents and mariners will join them.
Mayor Gregor Robertson says the Coast Guard station has a lot of value to the city and harbour.
"Over 300 calls last year, and in emergency situations which can't be served from many miles away," he says.
"It's downloading a cost if we have to gear up and have more police boats to deal with this, but that's not the police's job. It's a coast guard responsibility and the federal government needs to make sure that's properly resourced in the busiest harbour in Canada."
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