The cleanup continues across Atlantic Canada following Hurricane Fiona.
Kenora MP Eric Melillo took time in the House of Commons Tuesday morning to deliver the following message.
“My thoughts are with all of those in Atlantic Canada right now. I know that everyone across the Kenora riding feels the same in wake of the terrible destruction and the pain that the recent storm has caused. I just want to express my sympathies to everyone in Atlantic Canada right now.”
Melillo adds, “Our party stands ready and able to work with the government and assist the government in anyway that we can to ensure that their efforts are supported and that we’re doing everything we can to support people that are suffering right now.”
Meantime, the cleanup from Fiona is extensive in Prince Edward Island, and it could take months or longer to complete.
Premier Dennis King says it is going to be a long drawn out recovery process, “I don’t know, I think we are weeks or months until a total cleanup for sure, but our focus right now is to get PEI as operational as quickly as we can.”
As of noon on Tuesday, over 71,000 Maritime Electric customers were still in the dark in the province.
Spokesperson Kim Griffin says assessments have been completed, but there is still no estimation as to when power will be restored.
Eighty-nine were on the road as of Monday, and more were coming to help.
Roughly 300 poles are down across the utility’s coverage areas.
“I don’t know how long it will take until we get to some semblance of normal. I don’t know if it’ll ever be normal driving into Charlottetown or Summerside and not seeing the trees or driving out to the North Shore and not seeing the Dunes,” King stated.
As for how the province will be affected economically, King says, “There will be businesses that won’t be able to operate so we’ll look at how can we work with them to keep their staff paid and to keep those businesses functional until they can work their way through this. There’s an economic hit connected to that. Every time there is a slowdown or a stoppage in the day-to-day operations in government, that comes with a large cost. We’ll measure it in the multi-millions I’m sure.”
