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Ottawa's blackout response subpar: McCallum
Last Updated Mon Aug 18 07:35:30 2003
OTTAWA-- Defence Minister John McCallum said the federal government faltered in its initial response to the power blackout on Thursday.
Defence Minister John McCallum
"On the essentials, I think we have done a good job," McCallum said on Sunday, "but there were certain aspects that were poor."
McCallum said communications were inadequate in the first hours after the outage; the federal government released several incorrect versions of what had gone wrong.
McCallum said he's ordered a review of Ottawa's response.
The review will examine how the government received its information, why it was slow in coming and why it was wrong.
It will also look at the way the government put out that information to the media, members of Parliament and the public.
Finally, the review will look at the operations of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, the federal agency that's supposed to take the lead in a crisis.
But the measure isn't likely to appease critics who believed Prime Minister Jean Chré'©en should have cut short his vacation when the lights went out in Ontario and much of the northeast U.S.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright ? 2003 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Last Updated Mon Aug 18 07:35:30 2003
OTTAWA-- Defence Minister John McCallum said the federal government faltered in its initial response to the power blackout on Thursday.
Defence Minister John McCallum
"On the essentials, I think we have done a good job," McCallum said on Sunday, "but there were certain aspects that were poor."
McCallum said communications were inadequate in the first hours after the outage; the federal government released several incorrect versions of what had gone wrong.
McCallum said he's ordered a review of Ottawa's response.
The review will examine how the government received its information, why it was slow in coming and why it was wrong.
It will also look at the way the government put out that information to the media, members of Parliament and the public.
Finally, the review will look at the operations of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, the federal agency that's supposed to take the lead in a crisis.
But the measure isn't likely to appease critics who believed Prime Minister Jean Chré'©en should have cut short his vacation when the lights went out in Ontario and much of the northeast U.S.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright ? 2003 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
