Senate Committee Recommends Staffed Lighthouses

Minister Gail Shea To Make Final Decision 

The Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has made their report public into the issue of staffing of lightstations and have made some strong recommendations to the Conservative Government. The Minister and Cabinet will still have to implement these recommendations.

Jim Abram, a director of the Strathcona Regional District has been a leader in the fight to keep staff since 1985 and is extremely pleased with the recommendations but cautiously optimistic about the final decision yet to be made by Minister Shea. Mr. Abram says he has been dealing with this issue for too many years and it just keeps coming back to the public to fight over again, he said the Conservative government supports staffing lighthouses yet senior managers in the Canadian Coast Guard continue trying to get the Minister to implement the misguided decision to remove staff from lightstations.

Alice Woods, acting President for the BC Lightkeepers Local of the Public Service Alliance of Canada said, "I was confident that the Senators would come back with a positive recommendation due to overwhelming support from the users of the safety services offered by staffed lightstations. Every time the Coast Guard attempts to take staff off of stations, the users come out in droves to tell them that the services are essential to the safety and the economy of our province and our country."