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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 23 ,2 02 0 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Steve Foreman Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Iouliana Polar Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Garcia Production Shelli Harrison Halton Media General Manager Vicki Dillane CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 280 Guelph Street, Unit 77 Georgetown, ON L7G 4B1 Phone: 905-873-0301 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-873-0398 Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at theifp.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail lpolar@miltoncanadianchampion.com or call 905-234-1019. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFP.CA Here's a political safety alert for Premier Doug Ford. The emergency warning system in Ontario just suffered a serious breakdown and his government needs to fix it pronto. Millions of Ontarians will vouch for the need for urgent action. They're the ones who received the rud- est of rude awakenings early Sunday morning Jan. 12 when a screeching blast from their cellphones in- formed them of an "incident" at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Before being told nearly two hours later it was all a bad mistake and that there had been no "incident" of any kind, widespread concern, confusion and even fear swept across southern Ontario. Despite being told from the start that "there has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station," people were left wondering if they'd been told the full story and what might really be happening. One family in Toronto booked a hotel in Niagara Falls and got ready to flee. And given memories of the nuclear disasters at Chornobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, who can say they overreacted? This is one of the world's biggest nuclear power stations located close to Canada's biggest city. The apology from the provincial government for what it calls "human error" behind the original text message is appropriate. But Ford's Progressive Conservatives will be judged by how well they keep their promise to ensure nothing like this happens again. The mistake was made by the Provincial Emergen- cy Operations Centre during a routine training exer- cise. But how did a message meant to be sent to an internal list go out to the general population? Why did it take the emergency operations centre nearly two hours to send out its correction? After all, Ontario Power Generation had tweeted the message that nothing was amiss at Pickering more than an hour before that correction. But that didn't reach millions of people still fretting over the first alert. Even more to the point, why hasn't the Ontario government - either the current PC regime or their Liberal predecessors - already dealt with the known problems in the alert system? In 2017, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said pro- vincial emergency management systems need better oversight and co-ordination. Specifically, she found that the province lacks a co-ordinated information technology system for emergency management. The Liberal government knew this and spent $7.5 million over six years trying to set up such a system before discontinuing the project in 2015. If the Ford government needed a reason to take up this task, the screw-up surrounding the Pickering nuclear station gives them a big one. One of the worst consequences of the blunder is that people could lose confidence in the emergency alert system altogether. RESTORE PUBLIC TRUST IN EMERGENCY ALERTS SNAPSHOT A picturesque winter scene graces Trafalgar Road, just north of Ballinafad. Got a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Tony Fortunato photo What you and others think about the Canadian economy is important. A new survey is being offi- cially introduced by the Bank of Canada to monitor consumer sentiment. Every three months 2,000 Canadian households will be asked their expecta- tions on inflation, interest rates, jobs, wages, spend- ing plans, and local house prices. This new economic indicator is titled the Cana- dian Survey of Consumer Expectations. These types of questions have been asked of busi- nesses for the last 15 years. Having equivalent infor- mation from the consumer perspective is important to help address gaps in exist- ing sources of information on household behaviour. Inspired by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Survey of Consumer Expectations, the Bank of Canada survey has been tested over the last five years, and as of January it will become official. We are at a critical point in our economic evolution for sev- eral reasons. The current economic prosperity is one of the lon- gest expansion periods in our history. Consumer spending and escalating residential real estate val- ues have been fuelled by historically low interest rates. Household debt has climbed steadily, and the Bank of Canada has con- sidered this troublesome for many years. The mil- lion dollar question is how will consumers react when this current economic peri- od of prosperity declines? Understanding ongoing consumer attitudes will be critical information for the Bank of Canada to do its job, which is to manage the health and prosperity of the Canadian economy. There is a parallel to what the Bank of Canada is studying and how each one of us should manage our fi- nances. The issue is finan- cial health. To maintain financial health, both our country and each individual house- hold must look ahead to an- ticipate potential prob- lems. Do you have mortgage, consumer, and other per- sonal debt that is too high? If interest rates start to rise, at what point will you not be able to service your debt? Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial plan- ning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsonin- vestments.com. VOICE YOUR OPINION ON OUR ECONOMY PARTICIPATION IN NEW SURVEY WILL OFFER VALUABLE INFORMATION, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column EDITORIAL