July 2, 2024
Opposition Leader Zach Churchill made the following statement in response to the province’s delayed emergency alert following HRM’s Boil Water Advisory:
“When a Boil Water Advisory is issued, it should be standard practice for the province to issue an emergency alert as soon as it becomes aware of the issue. Many Nova Scotians are not on social media or only use it periodically.
Residents of HRM who have signed up for the hfxALERT system received an update 2.5 hours before a provincial alert was issued to phones, radios and televisions. This much of a delay in an emergency situation is unacceptable.
Our province has witnessed too many emergencies recently to not be prepared to issue a provincial alert within minutes. The Houston government needs to take emergency response more seriously, by ensuring we have a faster alert system and a province-wide vulnerable persons registry.”