“Ethelred the Unready should be the patron saint of Canada.”
That comment from a Liberal.
Oh and I’m still waiting to hear from the supporters of the liberal-left in Canada: what heads should roll? What Liberal should be mocked and held up as an example of Liberal Party incompetence? When exactly is your shrill placard-waving protest in front of Parliament planned? You’re not going to wait until after a disaster, are you (kind of like your handling of the terrorism file?)
Windsor’s [Ontario] fire chief spared no blushes when he was asked by the Senate security and defence committee what help he expected from the federal government in an emergency. “Our understanding, except for RCMP and perhaps limited coast guard help, assistance is not available from the federal government. The U.S. has FEMA, we do not…. I will have assistance from the U.S. before I can get help in my own country. I think we can be ashamed of that.”
FEMA is the same Federal Emergency Management Agency that is being pilloried for its slow response in dealing with Hurricane Katrina. So just how badly prepared is Canada for a catastrophe, if the fire chief of a major municipality says he is relying on the Americans for catastrophic aid?
Judging from those who have looked closely at our emergency preparedness, Canadians should be stockpiling bottled water and duct tape. As Thomas Axworthy, former principal secretary to Pierre Trudeau, told the Senate committee: “Ethelred the Unready should be the patron saint of Canada.”
The Senate committee’s report poured particular scorn on the Canadian equivalent of FEMA, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP), the performance of which was judged unsatisfactory by two-thirds of the municipalities contacted.
Since much of the testimony in the Senate report, the government has reorganized its emergency response into a new department, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, which most observers credit with making significant reforms. Yet a report by the Auditor-General last April said “progress has been uneven,” and again lambasted OCIPEP for being unable to say where it had spent its funds.
Training for those who respond first to emergencies was well behind schedule and, until recently, equipment was not compatible and interoperable, the report said. […]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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