The Federal Government will be saving less than it thought in closing the Kitsilano Coast Guard base next spring.
Coast Guard Commissioner Marc Gregoire says the net savings are only 700-thousand dollars a year, "We have 12 FTE's in total in Kitsilano. The closure of it will not incur a lot of costs per se."
Gregoire says replacements for Kits Base like the Auxiliary and a new inshore rescue boat have to be subsidized, "That will operate from May to September, maybe from April, late April. We are just finalizing the analysis for that now."
Critics say the move will risk marine safety and lives but the Federal Government insists that is not true.