Lindsay (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} onelessthing) wrote,@ 2009-03-19 12:26:00 |
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After spending a lovely evening with them, I parted company with Rob and Matchim last night just in time to catch the last bus towards home. Once the bus passed the Pitts Memorial Drive overpass downtown, we hit a slowdown in traffic; in the opposing lane, a cordon of cop cars, utility vehicles from some transport company, and black SUVs flashing their hazard lights was approaching. The explanation for the spectacle spread back through the bus: crawling along behind the escort was a flatbed with a large container on it. Clearly visible, protruding above the plastic sheeting, were rotor blades and other pieces of tortured helicopter wreckage from last week's crash.
It was eerie -- like watching a funeral cortege where the casket was propped open and a disfigured corpse partly visible.
Matchim mentioned that he went to the inter-faith memorial service for the crash victims held at the Basilica this evening. Williams was there, of course, as well as national politicos including Harper, Peter MacKay, and Justin Trudeau.
Speaking of MacKay:
Now not the time to debate N.L. search and rescue readiness: MacKay (CBC News)
Let's say we just ignore, for the moment, the fact that I still find it ridiculous to call MacKay "our" minister in cabinet for Newfoundland and Labrador, such that I don't have to get into the issue of what business a mainlander has in judging the propriety of debating this issue, for the moment. That being said, it's been more than 27 years since the sinking of the Ocean Ranger. Though conditions have arguably improved since, crucial proposals for improving safety in Newfoundland's offshore industry (such as posting an emergency response helicopter in St. John's on 15 minute daylight, and 45 minute night-time readiness) were never enacted. Still we find our offshore emergency response preparedness to be lacking. How could it be seen otherwise given that there wasn't even a Cormorant in the province that day (costing an extra hour on top of the normal response when time was most precious)? Let's not forget that the sole survivor was rescued by one of Cougar's own aircraft rather than an official emergency rescue aircraft.
If now isn't the time to discuss this, when is? Will we ever see the day?
It was eerie -- like watching a funeral cortege where the casket was propped open and a disfigured corpse partly visible.
Matchim mentioned that he went to the inter-faith memorial service for the crash victims held at the Basilica this evening. Williams was there, of course, as well as national politicos including Harper, Peter MacKay, and Justin Trudeau.
Speaking of MacKay:
Now not the time to debate N.L. search and rescue readiness: MacKay (CBC News)
Let's say we just ignore, for the moment, the fact that I still find it ridiculous to call MacKay "our" minister in cabinet for Newfoundland and Labrador, such that I don't have to get into the issue of what business a mainlander has in judging the propriety of debating this issue, for the moment. That being said, it's been more than 27 years since the sinking of the Ocean Ranger. Though conditions have arguably improved since, crucial proposals for improving safety in Newfoundland's offshore industry (such as posting an emergency response helicopter in St. John's on 15 minute daylight, and 45 minute night-time readiness) were never enacted. Still we find our offshore emergency response preparedness to be lacking. How could it be seen otherwise given that there wasn't even a Cormorant in the province that day (costing an extra hour on top of the normal response when time was most precious)? Let's not forget that the sole survivor was rescued by one of Cougar's own aircraft rather than an official emergency rescue aircraft.
If now isn't the time to discuss this, when is? Will we ever see the day?
