P.E.I. Liberals not impressed after government finally tables emergency documents

For three days, P.E.I.'s Official Opposition has asked Public Safety Minister Bloyce Thompson to table the province's plans to deal with a future evacuation made necessary by a wildfire or other emergency.

When the minister finally tabled two documents Thursday, Opposition leader Hal Perry made it clear he was not impressed.

"We wanted a plan to put Islanders' minds at ease in case of a disaster," Perry told reporters. 

"Who would take these plans and actually feel prepared? So this government hasn't learned anything. They haven't learned anything from Fiona."

The backdrop to Perry's request has been the wildfires burning out of control this week in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, prompting evacuation orders applying to tens of thousands of people.

After a dry spring on the Island and with wooded areas filled with dead trees and branches downed by post-tropical storm Fiona, P.E.I.'s environment minister took the unusual step Wednesday of issuing a ministerial order banning all open fires until at least June 25.

Perry noted that one of the two documents Thompson tabled Thursday, the province's All Hazards Emergency Plan, hasn't been updated since July 2021, more than a year before Fiona took out power to the entire Island last September, and severely tested the province's emergency response capacity.

The province has hired Calian Group Ltd. to conduct an after-action review of the response to Fiona. According to tender documents, that report is to be delivered to the minister by July 31.

The second document Thompson tabled Thursday, dated June 2023, is only four pages long, entitled "P.E.I. EMO Event Checklist – Evacuation."

Perry said neither document provides the information Island residents need, which he said was the "evacuation process for Islanders in the case of a disaster — specifically, wildfires."

Under P.E.I.'s Municipal Government Act, municipalities are required to have emergency response plans in place. But that doesn't apply in unincorporated areas with no municipal government, where the province has jurisdiction.

And Perry said that's where details are most lacking.

For example, according to the EMO evacuation checklist, the local municipality would be the site lead in any area affected by an evacuation. But the document doesn't stipulate who takes on that role where there is no municipal authority.

"Unincorporated municipalities have no representation, they have no leaders within," said Perry. "And most areas, most rural areas of Prince Edward Island, are unincorporated."

Perry used the example of the area of West Prince County between Portage and West Devon, a choke point where Route 2 is the only road in or out of that part of the province.

"It's an unincorporated area. So what would happen if there was an emergency that involved evacuation or some kind of disaster plan in that area?"

When questioned by the Opposition Tuesday about the province's preparedness for a potential wildfire evacuation, Thompson said there was a plan in place but he didn't "feel like discussing a plan on the floor of the legislature in question period."

On Wednesday, Thompson told the legislature he had met with the province's fire marshal and EMO that morning "to get an update on what's happening in Nova Scotia and to talk about an evacuation plan, if we should need that. It was a great conversation."

Thompson went on to accuse the Liberals of fear-mongering.

"As emergency measures operate – there is no fire on Prince Edward Island. I just want to be clear about that right now."

On Thursday, after Speaker Darlene Compton delivered a mild rebuke to both sides of the legislature for the tone of that debate, Thompson apologized for using what he deemed "unparliamentary words." 

The minister, who's also a dairy farmer, promised to atone by naming a newly born calf after the Speaker and ordering a glass of chocolate milk for Perry, noting it was World Milk Day.