Reopening of St. John's rescue sub-centre has advocates 'over the moon'

A former rescue co-ordinator is welcoming the announcement that Ottawa will reopen the Maritime rescue sub-centre in St. John's.

Last week, new federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo signed the mandate that promised to reopen thecentre, whichclosed in 2012 amid outcry from local politicians and Maritime industry workers.

• Liberals to reopen Maritime Rescue Sub-centre in St. John's

"It truly is amazing," saidMervWiseman, aretired maritime search and rescueco-ordinator.

"Since the centre closed in 2012 it's been roadblock after roadblockit's been no meeting, no discussions, no studies, no analysis," said Wiseman, one of the outspoken opponents to the centre's closure three years ago.

Wisemansaid he's relieved the Liberal federal government is making good on its election promise.

"I'm over the moon, I'm absolutely delighted with this,and I just can't wait now to get on with the next part of this very important work."

Wiseman said he expects there will be some time for the new federal minister to wrap his head around the portfolio, but expects it to be a "matter of months" or early spring before the centre reopens.

'A great relief'

He added it's not clear exactly what services will be co-ordinated out of the centre, since that isn't outlined in the mandate letter, but said he hopes to see coast guard radio returned to the building.

"There is a solid core of trained rescue co-ordinators that will obviously have to be reoriented, retrained if you will, but I don't see it as being a very large project to undertake to get it back in to operational working order."

However, Wiseman said he expects the new federal government will be in stark contrast to the last few years.

I don't see it as being a very large project to undertake to get it back in to operational working order.- Merv Wiseman

"Will there be some addressing the issues around public inquiries that's been looked for, the Burton Winters situation, all these kinds of things?" said Wiseman, referring to the Labrador teenager who froze to death on ice in 2012, igniting a debate about search and rescue policies.

"I think there will be an evolutionary process that will take place now and I'm optimistic with the openness and the transparency that government is now extending," he said.

"We're goingsee this addressed in ways that we couldn't even imagine with the former government. It's a great relief to come out of that dark area of division and I think hostility it's been very pronounced and we felt it, and thank God we're now past that."

'Welcome news'

Meanwhile, the union representing Canadian Coast Guard workers said it's pleased with the announcement, calling it "welcome news."

"When you look at the dangerous work that some of our individuals, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians do at sea, of course this is welcome news," saidJeannieBaldwin, regional vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Baldwin said it's not clear if staffing levels will be the same before the centre closed in 2012, but the centre is still fully equipped to handle the same volume of traffic.

"The subcentre in St. John's is responsible for over 900,000 square kilometres of ocean, not including almost 30,000 kilometres of coastline," she said.

"They provide invaluable work to the individuals that earn their living on the sea, but also for the work that we do internationally, of course, when it comes to such a rescue and the provisions that we provide to other places in Canada, so it was welcoming news and hopefully everything will be up and running as soon as possible."

There is no date for when the centre is expected to reopen.