P.E.I. government votes down motion calling for public inquiry into Fiona response

P.E.I.'s governing PCs voted down an Opposition motion calling for a public inquiry into the government's response to post-tropical storm Fiona Wednesday.

The storm initially knocked out power to the entire province after it started to batter the Island on the night of Sept. 23. Some were without power for up to three weeks.

The Green Party brought the motion to the floor, and the third party Liberals supported it.

But with the title "Condemning government's response to Fiona," the motion was never likely to gain the PC support it needed to pass.

The non-binding motion would have called on the legislative assembly to "urge government to immediately initiate a public inquiry into the response to post-tropical storm Fiona so that a full accounting of its actions can be heard and lessons learned in preparation for future storms."

Even though it was defeated, government could still choose to call a public inquiry.

Premier Dennis King, one of 12 PCs to vote against the motion, told reporters Wednesday that "we need to do a comprehensive review of the hurricane and its impacts here" but that the province is "still in sort-of clean-up mode," and that a decision by cabinet will be made soon on what form that review will take.

Dorian report too limited, says opposition

The motion's sponsor Peter Bevan-Baker said the consultant's report the King government commissioned from Calian Emergency Management Solutions following post-tropical storm Dorian in 2019 was "fairly limited in its scope." 

He also said government "really did not learn what it should have done from that report."

Bevan-Baker said that type of investigation lacks the ability a public inquiry would have to compel documents and testimony from third parties, including Maritime Electric, the Red Cross, and telecommunications companies.

"Without that information we're not going to get all the answers to the questions … and we will end up in the same place again."

Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly said the Dorian report "didn't give us any information about how this affected Islanders. …a public inquiry can go into those details."

"How was our different populations affected? So seniors first of all, long-term care facilities, schools."

Some government-owned seniors' housing facilities were without power for as long as 12 days, even though they were on the priority list to have power restored. Not all facilities had generators to provide backup power. The province has since committed to changing that.

Meanwhile, some Islanders were asked by the Red Cross to stand in line for hours, and some did so for several days in order to receive $250 in provincial Fiona relief money.

Call for IRAC to investigate

McNeilly supported the Green motion calling for a public inquiry, but also said the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission should use its ability under the Electric Power Act to conduct its own investigation into the power outage and restoration.

The act allows IRAC to conduct an investigation in the event of an interruption in power to "such an extent as to be likely to cause hardship or inconvenience to consumers of electricity."

"We need as much information as we can," said McNeilly.

"Vegetation management is number one," McNeilly said, referring to efforts to trim back trees before they come down on power lines. 

"What were the priorities like bringing people back onto the grid?… What do we do if this happens again?"

McNeilly said, while a public inquiry is needed, an investigation from IRAC might provide answers to questions about the restoration of power more quickly.

CBC reached out to IRAC but there was no immediate response.