Let's talk about the Coast Guard move.

The last week has been overly hectic. Not only have I been putting in a metric amount of time working but weve also gotten just about every significant event possible condensed into the weekday.

From a 2% announcement, a bunch of news, Davies buying a yard and now an Isreali-Iranian War? I dont know who decided to pack everything together this week, but I dont like it. Thats to much for me.

I of course will not be covering gloval events, because thats not what I try to do here. Instesd I've been spending the week chasing down something fsr more interesting - the fate of the Coast Guard.

I have had many people asking me what has happened, and what the plans are, from a very confusing Monday to chasing down people, I have been in the hunt to gather as much information as possible.

So what happened?

CBC first reported on the Coast Guard move over the weekend. At that time I had heard exactly zero on it.

While there has always been open discussions on moving the Coast Guard from the various parties, no one had gone as far as to actually attempt to do it, not since the last move in the nineties.

And while the Liberals and Conservatives had both been open, with Conservative circles outright saying they would like there to be a move if elected, I was always skeptical that anyone would take the leap.

Now, for record, the idea has been discussed by the Liberals for a while. Under Trudeau the concept had come up several time but no one pulled the trigger. There were at least concepts though.

So when I first heard about it I was genuinely very curious. No one I know had any idea about this move, although granted my CCG and DFO connections are very sparse. Nevertheless I decided to wait.

When Monday came I was invited to take part in a Media Briefing before PMMC took questions. My immediate goal was to bring this topic up amd get some sort of official words on what these plans were, especially after it wasnt mentioned in PMMC speech beforehand.

Sadly I didnt get a chance to ask any questions as it was quite packed, however, my broski Stuart was there and he was equally as wanting for information on this topic.

What we were told was that no such move was taking place, nor plans to arm the Coast Guard and that the current plan was to focus on augmenting their capabilities through new sensors and further collaboration with the RCN.

It was a definitive statement, one that we all agreed was cut and dry. I even reached out to other journalists before adding it to the livethread to make sure we were on equal page.

So imagine my surprise when Steven at the G&M came out blazing eith a straight no, the plan is to move them. He even came backed up with a statement from the PMO, and credit to Steven, he was quick on this:

Credit to Steven Chase at the Globe & Mail

So as you can imagine my new goal was to figure out what exactly the hell was happening to the Coast Guard, with multiple competing statements on the subject. I made it my mission to have a definitive answer.

So it was back to asking, and emailing, everyone, from the DND to the PMO, CCG to the DFO. I got in contact, I dug into sources, even went as far as to ask people in industry if they had heard anything.

What I got for the first few days was chaos. Multiple statements saying that info wasnt available, more time was needed. I got outright denial from the DND, only to be told they would email me back with info (they never did)

The PMO office also told me info would be available when they had it. Evidently as of the time of this writing they have not responded. The only one to stay in contact and provide an answer to my question;

So as far as I was concerned this was a deal closer. The Coast Guard will be moving under the leadership of the Minister of National Defence. What will this look like? We don't know. I had hit a dead end at this point, where sadly my reach was no longer wide enough for info.

Thankfully, there were others also keen on this, and wanting to get to the bottom of this, and they got farther than me. I will highly recommend my boy Stuarts article on this as he got farther than me.

What has become evidently clear is:

1. The Coast Guard is moving

2. The idea is facing stiff resistance

This isnt a shock at all. The DFO folks I talked to felt very caught off guard by everything, and the general reaction I have talking around was that this was a bit unexpected.

If accurate, then it is clear that this is the choice of the Prime Minister. He is the one who wants this, and so is making the final push. That isnt to say he is the only one, but this has his backing and he will push that through.

Thoughts?

As many of you know I have not been supportive of this move. I find little use for it, and the mandate changes do not seem substantial enough at this time for me to say this was needed.

The Coast Guard and DFO are aligned to each other. Separating them just fir the Coast Guard to do the same things under the MND feels wasteful to me. I also know the move is likely to be highly unpopular with members of the Coast Guard if they push to far into any sort of militarization.

Ive already heard several people say they would leave if they got pushed to far into a security service. I imagine there are many more that feel the same. Thwre needs to be some balance.

I also reached out to the respective unions but did not hear back in time for this. If they get back to me I will post an update separately. I will say that the confusion, and to many lack of consultation, has been a major souring on this move out the gate.

Now, there is a healthy middle ground, perhaps where several more supportive tasks are augmented by the CCG. This can include things like Autonomous support, Undersea support, increased HADR and Arctic Resupply.

(Sidenote, I find it funny that many people think the Coast Guard handles a lot of the resupply during the sealift. Maybe I should do something fun on that?)

These are all tasks that fit into their current role, but also can provide value in places where we have some gaps. I am not saying that qe should download these, such as undersea work, to thr CCG, but they can play a role.

Similarly upgrading the sensor suites is another place the government has been specific in, if not the only. While some of these, such as Minister McGuinty suggesting that future Coast Guard vessels could be part of tracking submarines, which is silly, there is still potential room for them to expand beyond their sensors suites as they are.

I dont think that much will change though, to all those worried. I dont think the mandate or day to day will be overly effected by the change. For the most part I expect ot to be business as usual, with the potential to take on security tasks if needed.

I doubt the government will try and press the Coast Guard, nor do I think it will work, into overly militarizijg itself. A few additional sensors, some secondary tasks downloaded perhaps? Overall the ckre will stay the same, and to all you I hope the cukture will as well.

So for now let us not become overly panicked. We dont know any details yet on what we are going to be looking at in terms of changes.

I do plan to dive into this topic at a later point, especially as we have more clear information available. Ive been obviously thinking about it a lot, and truthfully im still trying to find the place.

EDIT: Speak of the devil and he shall appear. A bit of an update. I can confirm that neither the UCTE or CMSG were consulted or informed of this change. They both seem fairly upset by it.

CMSG has met with senior Coast Guard officials in the last few days, dont know about UCTE. I await official statements from both unions, but for now both seem open to discussions.