Welcome back Igor

Following a story and an editorial in The Packet the story of the Provincial response began to make the media circles and was one of the topics for conversation on Openline as well. I've had some strong feelings about the response that developed at the time the event took place and this story just helped drag some of it out of me and onto the page here and here, and I figured that would likely be then end of it. Apparently not.

As it made the rounds in the Media the Minister of Municipal Affairs decided he'd had enough and started doing one of the few things he seems to like to do besides pose for pictures beside fire trucks, and that is attack the folks asking the questions. He called in to VOCMs Backtalk, calling the Editor at The Packet "irresponsible" but not once stating how. Apparently he has now written a letter to the paper that will be posted in this Thursday's edition of The Packet, where he repeats his attack, and again without rationale.

Of course this kind of public conversation tends to draw the attention of local bloggers, myself included. Over at Labradore there's this entry, and over at The Sir Robert Bond Papers there's one here, here, and here. Now Bond and Labradore are known anti-PC, or at least anti-Danny in their general approach, but that doesn't affect the quality of the details, just the tone of their arguments.

There's just one more blog to make note of on the issue of Igor, and that's Geoff Meeker's. Geoff writes Meeker on Media for The Telegram, and he writes about issues as they relate to media in NL. I'm a regular reader and I thoroughly enjoy the fact that he often includes interviews in a question and answer format. Geoff's latest offering provides the appropriate backstory, first person detail, and a very focused point. So go read his latest on Minister O'Brien and The Packet here.

So this Igor story just keeps coming back. it's not surprising when there are certainly folks out there who feel it could have been handled a little better, and a Minister and Government who seem to think everything went perfectly. There is always room for improvement. Always. Especially when it comes to emergency planning and response. There's an old saying that goes something like this: "Those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it." Unfortunately I don't think the Minister understands, and we're the ones who will pay the price when Hurricane Igor's cousin comes to visit.