AKA: Lets get some safety already!
Let’s not break out the Half Pints yet - there is still a lot of work to do. But if we have a national public alerting system in place by 2010, I will take Chuck Sanderson out for a Half Pints at the King’s Head Pub.
CanAlert is no more; it is now the National Public Alerting System. But let’s not be fooled, industry Canada was still given the project of creating a national warning system in 1995. So if the system is established by 2010, it will have taken 15 years to get this up and running.
Back in 1995, things like cell phones, and blackberries were not as prevalent as they are now, if not just concepts on a drawing board. It would have been pretty expensive to have a public alerting system that would notify you on your cell phone, and even then how many people would it reach? Not very much. The other option is TV and radio, and for that to happen legally, they would need to change their licenses.
Fast forward to now.
Everyone and their dog has a cell phone (except for those few holdouts like me) and broadcasters are voluntarily changing their licenses so they would be in compliance when they are broadcasting warnings. This is good, as the Feds have asked them to change it by 2009, or else… I don’t know, most likely fines. As far as the warnings you currently see, it’s only been out of the goodness of our broadcaster’s hearts that they broadcast any weather warnings. And lets face it, if you know CKY warns the public of a emergency and some other station doesn’t, you are more likely to watch CKY when the skies darken.
What, in theory, is going to happen when there is an emergency such as tornadoes, floods or chemical spills, is you will get notified on your cell phone. Hopefully it will be like an alarm that will keep chirping and chirping until you turn it off. This service should be coast to coast to coast. Then it breaks down to what the individual municipalities think they need. Trained people will be working across the country 24/7 to ensure that when a warning is needed, it will be provided.
There will also be an Internet service to alert people. You’ll be able to sign up to get warnings sent to your email.
But this doesn’t help low income families. Families that don’t have cell phones or black berries, What about these people? What about anybody at 3 AM, your cell phone, if you have one, has died and you are charging it while it’s off. Living in a major municipality how are you going to get warned of that midnight tornado? Maybe air sirens? A reverse 911 system? These are the important little details that need to get address by the municipalities.
And now that you have been warned, what do you do? Does your four-year-old child know what to do in an emergency? Chances are you have a good idea what to do in case of a fire, or flooding. We already teach our kids in schools what to do in case of fire, flood, or extreme cold. Now all we need to start teaching them what to do in case of tornados.
We have two years to create the system and train the people and standardize the messages that get broadcasted to cell phones. Two years to teach our kids what to do in case these warning pop up one day while they are out playing a pick of game of soccer in the park. Two years, and its only taken us 13 years to cross the starting line.
The cost should be around 16 million. That will be split 50/50 between the fed and provinces and territories. Then the 8 million will be split among the provinces on a per capita basis. Leaving Manitoba to pay somewhere around $350,000. A price tag I think we are all too happy to pay.
Just remember that this is a story that affects all of us. And it is a Great Canadian Talk Show exclusive! No other news outlet, mainstream or alternative has had the drive and determination to jump through every hoop. Go back and forth between the feds and provincial government, for months over and over again. No one else has tried to get opinions from other provinces and territories. No one else feels that a common sense public alerting system is needed, or is worth any space on any page in any newspaper. CanAlert, just another story the mainstream media chooses to ignore in favor of the most recent pictures of Britney Spears.
I plan to keep in contact with the EMO, and Chuck Sanderson to find out what the progress is. If I find out that some one is dragging their heals on this one, I will be calling attention too it. We have the momentum to change things for the better, to make our kid’s Canada a much safer one.
Just reminder, the reply to Dan Lett’s ‘On going debate’ has been posted up at Spirited Kenny the blog
