Comfort centres coming to Cape Breton after Fiona
It’s been more than two months since post-tropical storm Fiona hit the Maritimes and left a lasting impression.
Now, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is looking at ways they can be better prepared for the next major storm.
“The idea is to identify comfort centres on a go-forward basis, where people can go for a warm meal, to charge their cell phone or if they need a roof over their head,” said councillor James Edwards.
In the days following the storm, there were long line ups at gas stations.
Many of them had no power, making for frustrating fuel shortages.
Edwards says a proactive approach is needed.
“The first day after Fiona, the CBRM advised the Glace Bay Miners Forum would be a comfort centre, and we get here and there wasn't any generators,” he said.
The request comes as Nova Scotians could be seeing their power bills increase by 14 percent over the next two years.
While the provincial government introduced legislation to cap rate increases, that cap did not extend to fuel costs.
Even two months post-Fiona, there are frequent power outages and some feel more work is needed to keep people connected to the grid.
“Sometimes privatization is not better than things being in public hands,” said Cape Breton University professor Tom Urbaniak. “There was an ideology afoot in the 1990s that the private sector can do everything better. We're seeing from this that, no, the private sector can't always do everything better.”
Urbaniak says governments at all levels need to be better prepared and learn from how Fiona was handled.
“I do see many gaps in public policy, many gaps in infrastructure and some of them are practical and basic gaps, including the absence of comfort centres in some large communities,” said Urbaniak.
Edwards says he was without power for nearly 10 hours on Saturday.
“Yesterday wasn't a really cold day, but if it was February and it was a really cold day, all of a sudden that comfort centre is more important,” he said.
Edwards says an issue paper has been sent out to determine the cost surrounding such projects.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.