The Canadian Coast Guard plays an essential role in ensuring the safety of mariners and protection of Canada's marine environment. Through the Oceans Protection Plan, the Government of Canada is working to improve marine safety and protect Canada's waters and coasts today and for the future.
Today, the Member of Parliament for Notre Dame, Scott Simms, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, unveiled a new Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue station in Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador. MP Simms also took part in a dedication to service ceremony for a new 19-metre lifeboat stationed in Twillingate, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Conception Bay, one of 20 high-endurance lifeboats being built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
The new $8.3-million station was created under the Oceans Protection Plan to enhance the Coast Guard's ability to respond to marine emergencies, including environmental response, in the waters off the northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. The station began operations in May 2020 and will operate as a 24-hour-a-day seasonal station from May to December each year, depending on ice conditions.
Sustainability was a key consideration in the design and construction of this new station, including registration with the Canada Green Building Council under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. The station consists of an operations building with crew accommodations and a garage with workshop space for the station's fast rescue craft. A new wharf and floating dock was constructed to accommodate the CCGS Conception Bay.
Under the Oceans Protection Plan, the Canadian Coast Guard has already opened new search and rescue stations in St. Anthony and Old Perlican, Newfoundland and Labrador, each with its own dedicated lifeboat.
The $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan is the largest investment ever made to protect Canada's coasts and waterways. This national plan is creating a marine safety system that provides economic opportunities for Canadians today, while protecting our coastlines and clean water for generations to come. This work is being done in close collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local stakeholders and coastal communities.
Quotes
"The opening of the new Twillingate search and rescue station is a milestone in our commitment to achieving a world-leading marine safety system to meet Canada's - and Newfoundland and Labrador's - unique context. We are continuing to ensure the Canadian Coast Guard has the infrastructure and equipment it needs to rapidly and efficiently respond to marine emergencies, including search and rescue and environmental response."
The Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
"Our Government is committed to making Canada's marine pollution response faster, more effective and efficient. Thanks to Canada's Oceans Protection Plan, marine shipping in Canada has never been safer. The new search and rescue station in Twillingate joins three others that opened in Newfoundland and Labrador and in British Columbia that help keep seafarers safe and Canada's marine environment protected.
The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport
"This new, permanent Coast Guard presence on Notre Dame Bay shows our government's commitment to coastal communities like Twillingate and to the people who make a living on the water. The Government of Canada is delivering on the need for local marine safety resources in Newfoundland and Labrador."
Member of Parliament for Coast of Bays - Central - Notre Dame, Scott Simms
Quick facts
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Since the Oceans Protection Plan started in November 2016, over 50 initiatives have been announced in the areas of marine safety, research and ecosystem protection that span coast-to-coast-to-coast.
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Under the Plan, new Coast Guard search and rescue stations have opened in Old Perlican, St. Anthony and Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as in Victoria, B.C. Other stations are being built in Tahsis and Hartley Bay, B.C. and a multi-purpose marine response facility is planned in Port Renfrew, B.C.
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Funding for all seven new stations amounts to $108.1 million over five years, with annual ongoing funding of $12.2 million creating 56 new positions to provide search and rescue services from these new stations.
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CCGS Conception Bay is one of 20 new high endurance search and rescue lifeboats scheduled to be built for Coast Guard search and rescue stations across Canada. Three of these new vessels are now operating from the three new search and rescue stations in Newfoundland and Labrador
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The new search and rescue station in Twillingate is generating clean, sustainable solar power on site, which is expected to meet approximately 25 per cent of its annual energy requirements.
