Dialect? Have you ever been in a killer cab in St. John's, the taxis allegedly only driven by Baymen? Well, it's not just a Newfie joke as the Feds propose moving the sea search and rescue co-ordination centres:

“We can see a loss of life if you don’t have someone with a thorough knowledge of the area and the language that’s being used,” Judy Foote, the MP for Random–Burin–St. George’s in Newfoundland, told a news conference on Tuesday. Ms. Foote said when she speaks to fishermen in her own riding, “and they tell me of incidents that they’ve had at sea, if I didn't know them as well as I do, and speak to them on a constant basis, I wouldn’t understand them. So I understand perfectly that someone from Nova Scotia or someone from Ontario might not understand them.”

Growing up in Nova Scotia with Scots parents, I have always had a hard time following a thick Newfoundland accent. I entirely understand the concern in theory. But apparently "dispatchers in Halifax have had to call the dispatchers in St. John’s and play them tapes of rescue calls from Newfoundland because they did not understand the people on the other end of the line." That's not theory. And as part of a Federal cost cutting plan "expected to save about $1-million"? That is kind of weird.

I am all for government restraint but is this the first million you save? Aren't there more auditors to fire somewhere?