Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore came out swinging on Friday about the controversial planned closure of Vancouver’s Kitsilano Coast Guard base, despite many municipal politicians calling for an end to the cuts.

“The reality is that the City of Vancouver and all of British Columbia have more Coast Guard resources, have better Coast Guard protection, than any other port and any other coast in all of the country even with the changes in Kits,” he told reporters following his address at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is one of many critics who oppose the Kits closure, but Moore claims that Robertson has never contacted him about his concerns.

“Gregor Robertson has never picked up the phone to call me or talk to me on this subject, he’s never phoned me, he has never contacted the prime minister,” Moore said. “I think there’s a difference between being seen to be wanting to be the defender of Vancouver versus actually being an effective representative.”

Vancouver Councillor Geoff Meggs, however, said otherwise

“The mayor wrote on behalf of council to the prime minister on June 14,” he said. “It’s really not a question of who wrote to who first, we’d like a stand-up discussion on how to protect services and we haven’t had that yet.”

Moore said the government has consulted with the Coast Guard, who say that response times will not be affected by the planned shut-down.

Earlier this week, CTV News reported that a former Coast Guard supervisor lost his job shortly after he expressed concerns over the pending closure. Marc Proulx, a 30-year Coast Guard veteran, said he was worried that the closure would jeopardize boater safety.

“We know from the testimony of Coast Guard specialists there’s a risk of people dying because of reduction to protection here,” said Meggs. “It’s the busiest harbour on Canada’s western sea board, it’s got huge recreational and commercial use. We really need to sit down and work on what the necessary level of services is and stop trying to victimize people if that’s what’s happening.”

With files from CTV British Columbia's Mi-Jung Lee