Bevan-Baker questions government response following Dorian

Two months after post-tropical storm Dorian swept through P.E.I., Opposition leader Peter Bevan-Baker is questioning government's response following the storm and why the premier didn't declare a state of emergency.

Bevan-Baker brought up the issue in question period Tuesday, when MLAs returned to the legislature for the first day of the fall sitting.

Bevan-Baker contrasted P.E.I.'s response to a situation inManitoba last month, after a storm in that province left thousands without power.

"In Manitoba, Premier Brian Pallister declared a state of emergency within hours of recognizing the extent of the damage," Bevan-Baker said.

"Why did P.E.I. not very early on declare a state of emergency as Manitoba did?"

Some on P.E.I. were without power for more than a week after Dorian, and Bevan-Bakersaid declaring a state of emergency would have allowed the province to access more resources.

Deferred to EMO, premier says

In response to Bevan-Baker's questions, Premier Dennis King said he tookdirection from the province's Emergency Measures Organization in the days after the storm.

"Essentially it's the job of the government to make sure they have the resources that they need when they need them, and to stay out of the way and let them do that. And that's what we did," King said.

"Throughout this process nobody on that Emergency Measures Organization came to us and said, 'Mr. Premier, can you declare a state of emergency.'"

Bevan-Baker said as premier, King shouldn't have waited to be asked.

"You have an opportunity, and some would say an obligation, to be the leader when something like this happens."

Overall, King said he feels the province responded well to the storm. But he saidthere is a review underway, which will provide an opportunity to learn and see if there are things that could have been done differently.

'Serious communication gaps'

In his line of questioning, Bevan-Baker again brought upconcerns about communication systems for fire departments.

A previous Island-wide paging system was shut down in the summer, and Bevan-Baker said "Dorian exposed some serious communication gaps," in first-responder infrastructure.

Earlier this fall the province said there was funding available to help fire departments upgrade their paging systems. But Bevan-Baker raised concerns that not all fire departments are set up with communication systems that will allow them to function properly during an outage.

King agreed that is a concern, and said providing communications equipment is "an investment that we have to be prepared to make."

"If there's one thing we've learned from the Dorian response, Mr. Speaker, is we have to arm all of our citizens and our first responders with all of the tools we possibly can, and Mr. Speaker we're prepared to do that as a government."

The Department of Justice and Public Safety has issued a tender for a consultant to complete a review of the province's preparedness and response to the storm.

The report of the review is expected in July 2020.

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