Environment Canada

[geoffrey]

Just a little observation. When I lived in Ontario, our weather forcasting was accurate, alerts were issued promptly, things were very well done. I liked environment Canada.

Now that I live in Alberta, I'm getting frustrated by a government organization that seems to focus more to GTA/Montreal then elsewhere. I think this is unacceptable, they already have the WeatherNetwork, ect. ect.. Sure, forcast for them, but let's be reasonable here, why devote all the resources of a public organization to an area that private companies focus on already.

What brings this up, you ask? Right now, despite the hail falling outside and continous roll of thunder with violent lightning, my city is only in a 'Thunderstorm Watch'. And it's not the first time, we had funnel clouds earlier in the year and not even a thunderstorm warning was issued.

Is this a regional issue, or is there simply incompetance at Environment Canada? Is there liability if their poor ability to issue warnings for severe weather in progress costs someone their life?

[BubberMiley]

Funnel clouds can develop quickly, and when you're charged with a task as difficult and, let's face it, impossible as predicting the weather, hindsight is always 20/20.

It seems that whenever tax money is spent towards providing a service, those who particularly resent paying that money will hold the agency responsible to an impossible standard. We see this with child and family services workers who, while never getting credit where it is due, are subject to all kinds of Monday morning quarterbacks telling them they should have done better when something goes wrong.

I don't think Environment Canada does a particularly amazing job, but given the nature of the business, they probably do what they can.

[jdobbin]

Is this a regional issue, or is there simply incompetance at Environment Canada? Is there liability if their poor ability to issue warnings for severe weather in progress costs someone their life?

There have been a lot of cuts over the years. Some people have losts their local forecasting. They wanted to shut down Winnipeg's office as well and we would have gotten our weather report from Alberta.

I suppose we could privatize the whole thing but that would still entail no forecasts for some regions because it isn't economical.