Editorial — Who’s in charge of the cargo ship emergency?

SATURDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The B.C. Ministries of Justice and Environment issued a statement Friday afternoon on the oil-carrying Russian cargo vessel adrift off the coast of Haida Gwaii.

The statement said the Canadian Coast Guard had been notified that the Simushir had lost engine power northwest of Gowgaia Bay off Moresby Island. Emergency procedures were activated. Emergency Management B.C. was co-operating with federal counterparts at the Canadian Armed Forces.

“The Province is also contacting its partners in the B.C. Pacific States Oil Spill Task Force both to notify them of the risk and to ask them to provide mutual aid as needed based on the outcome of efforts to restore power to the vessel.”

It’s good to be kept abreast by our governments of how disasters, or potential disasters, are being handled. What’s strange about this statement is that it was made anonymously. Yes, it was attributed to the Ministries of Environment and Justice, but no names were attached.

A major environmental disaster may be in the offing, and no human being with a face and voice stepped up to take responsibility for the status report or offer to be available for follow-up. The only contact numbers attached were for media relations offices.

It’s quite strange, this system of anonymous announcements. As often as not, status reports on the Mount Polley disaster weren’t attributed to anyone, either. When we face a dire event that changes lives, we like to think there are human beings out there we can put our trust in.

Yet, this B.C. government isn’t even consistent in the way it handles such things. The Ebola scare is gripping the world including B.C. Wisely, the province’s Ministry of Health is issuing updates on B.C.’s preparedness.

Are these updates attributed to anyone? Well, yes, actually — Health Minister Terry Lake is putting his name to them. So why, when environmental disasters loom, is Environment Minister Mary Polak’s name — or at least that of a senior official — not at the bottom of statements? She has given TV interviews on the breaking story, so why not be pro-active in standing behind the issuance of updates?

Is this lack of consistency just personal preference, or does the provincial government simply not have a strategy for such things. The same process should be used for all announcements involving emergency situations, and it should include attribution to someone in charge.