SHEARWATER, N.S. - It's not the right time to debate whether Newfoundland's two Cormorant helicopters should be moved from Gander to the capital city of St. John's, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Tuesday.
Some Newfoundlanders want the military aircraft transferred permanently to beef up search-and-rescue capabilities on the island's east coast, especially after last week's deadly crash of a privately owned helicopter in the Atlantic.
There's been concern over the fact that it took nearly two hours for the Cormorants to arrive on the scene.
But with a memorial service for the 17 crash victims set for Wednesday in Newfoundland, MacKay said those sorts of issues would have to wait.
"Issues related to this specific incident, I think we want to wait for an investigation with respect to the crash itself," MacKay told reporters after making an unrelated announcement at 12 Wing Shearwater, a Halifax-area air base.
"The discussion around response time, I think is more appropriately dealt with at a time after this memorial service and when we can respect the grieving families, support them through this period, and get all the information readily available before we start to do a full public discussion."
Some have also criticized the military's decision to send Newfoundland's two Cormorants away from the province for training.
The aircraft were working off Cape Breton last Thursday when a Cougar S-92 Sikorsky en route to two offshore oil platforms crashed and sank about 90 kilometres east of St. John's.
Another private helicopter that was sent to the scene shortly after the accident rescued one man and pulled a body from the water.
The Cormorants arrived at the crash site about one hour later than if they had left from Gander, in central Newfoundland.
"As always, Canadian Forces personnel performed extraordinarly well, responded as quickly as humanly possible," said MacKay.
A military official said last week that the exercise off Nova Scotia did not compromise efforts to cover the Atlantic search and rescue area.
Maj. Denis McGuire also said moving the Cormorants isn't an option because the Gander base provides a better, central location.
According to the military, a Cougar helicopter dispatched from St. John's arrived at the scene of the ditching at 11:10 a.m. Newfoundland time, about one hour and 22 minutes after the crash.
The first Cormorant on the scene arrived 18 minutes later.
