18 October 2010

Whither provincially-funded search and rescue?

Not so very long ago a bunch of provincial politicians rushed forward to insist that the federal government ought to do more to help people in peril on the oceans offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ignore for the moment that what most of them really wanted was more federal jobs in the east-end of Newfoundland.

Just notice that not a single one of those same politicians – federal or provincial – will dare step forward to endorse an idea that cropped up this past weekend in Labrador.  Well, they won’t step forward as long as the scheme has to come from the provincial government’s coffers.

A fellow travelling the highway in the sparsely populated region of the province found himself in a nasty truck accident. It took police an hour and a half to make the trip by road and when they arrived, the police car didn’t include any sort of rescue equipment to help get the guy out of the twisted remains of his truck.

His idea is pretty simple:

"If they [the provincial government] had emergency services at those [highway maintenance] depots then they would have been there more quickly and they would have had the proper equipment to push my seat out of the way."

Now if someone could find a way to beg Ottawa for the money….

- srbp -