McGuire Announces New Search and Rescue Station for Summerside, P.E.I.

Dartmouth, N.S. -- Joe McGuire, Member of Parliament for Egmont, today announced on behalf of the Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans that the Canadian Coast Guard has selected Summerside, Prince Edward Island as the home of a new search and rescue (SAR) lifeboat station.

This decision brings about the fulfillment of a promise to bring a greater degree of safety to mariners in the Gulf Region, said Mr. McGuire, Mariners operating in the Northumberland Strait will soon benefit from a quicker response time when they have to call upon the Coast Guard for assistance.

The Coast Guard expects the new lifeboat station to be operational in 2002. Once completed, the new station will be crewed and supplied with a vessel suitable for the Northumberland Strait until the arrival of one of the Coast Guard's new state-of-the-art "Cape Class" 14.7-metre vessels.

The proposal to base the new search and rescue vessel on the Prince Edward Island side of the Strait is aimed at providing as long a service season as possible, given the icing conditions in the area. A lifeboat operating from Summerside also takes advantage of the local geography, which allows smaller rigid-hull inflatable vessels, also based at these stations, to be trailered the 10 kilometre distance to Malpeque Bay and launched into the Gulf of St Lawrence.

For information:

Lloyd Brown
Superintendent
Rescue, Safety and Environmental Response
Canadian Coast Guard
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Tel.: (902) 426-2292

David Jennings
Manager, Communications
Canadian Coast Guard
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Maritimes Region
Tel.: (902) 426-3555