Survival odds in North Atlantic better for offshore oil workers than fishermen?

CBC carries an interesting story today about how Cougar Helicopters is on track to have an around-the-clock, wheels-up search-and-rescue response time of 20 minutes in the first quarter of 2012.

Of course, Cougar's 1st priority is the offshore oil industry.

I raised both points in the House of Commons in early December, points that I was afraid would be lost in the Peter MacKay controversy/joke.

Meantime, the military's Gander-based search and rescue Cormorant helicopters will continue to have a wheels-up response time of 30 minutes during working hours, Monday to Friday, and up to two hours during evenings and on weekends.

When it comes to survival time in the North Atlantic, there's no difference between a fisherman and an offshore oil worker.

Why then the two-tier response times?

Not good enough.

Comments

Tony Chadwick NDP Candidate said…
Quite right, Ryan! And what is the Harpo government paying Cougar to offer this second-class service to fishermen? That is, in addition to the tax breaks, write-offs, loop-holes Cougar already receives at the corporate trough.
January 5, 2012 at 5:51 PM
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