Government defends its response to Igor

The provincial government has drawn criticism from all sides after documents came to light which show officials waited four days after the storm to call in federal military assistance. A string of emails and reports indicated that in the days immediately after Igor, the provincial government thought they had a handle on the situation, and federal officials offered assistance multiple times before military personnel were called in. Municipal Affairs Minister Kevin O’Brien is defending the government’s response to hurricane Igor, saying it did have a plan for responding to the storm. O’Brien said while the provincial government does not have an overarching emergency management plan in place, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services was tracking the storm for roughly two weeks before it hit. He said as it became clear Igor would hit the province, the plan for responding to it came together. A senior official within the federal Department of Public Safety said as far as people in Ottawa can see, the province handled the Igor response quite well.