CANADA: INITIAL FALLOUT FROM THE BLACKOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 002354 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2013 TAGS: PREL PGOV ENRG CA SUBJECT: CANADA: INITIAL FALLOUT FROM THE BLACKOUT Classified By: POLMINCOUNS BRIAN FLORA. REASON 1.5 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: Residents of Ontario, with the exception of some 50,000 public sector workers in Ottawa, were expected to resume "normal" work routines on Monday. Businesses throughout Ontario have been asked to cut energy consumption in half over the next week as the province tries to recover from last week's massive blackout. Meanwhile, finger pointing within and between the federal (Liberal) and provincial (Progressive Conservative) governments was in full gear as the media sought to exploit miscommunication and disarray in both bureaucracies. End summary. ¶2. (U) With power more or less restored over the weekend, residents of Canada's most populous province (33 percent of the national population) warily resumed work on Monday, August 18. In Ottawa, 50,000 federal, provincial and municipal public sector workers --except for emergency and other essential services personnel--were ordered to stay home "until further notice," part of an effort to halve the city's power consumption until power is fully restored across the province. In a live broadcast Sunday evening, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves urged businesses to help avert rolling blackouts through "reasonable and prudent and conservative" energy consumption. Not all of the province's power stations are back on line and authorities are concerned about the possibility of over-taxing the still fragile electrical grids throughout the province. ¶3. (SBU) Prime Minister Chretien, who remained in his home riding of Shawinigan, Quebec, throughout the power failure, was strongly criticized in the press and by members of his own governing party for failing to demonstrate leadership. He was due to set foot in Ontario today for the first time since the crisis started, to participate in this week's annual meeting of the Liberal Party Caucus in North Bay, northern Ontario. The PM is drawing fire for his lack of visibility in the present crisis and for too-hastily attributing the power failure to a lightning strike on the U.S. Niagara Mohawk power grid, prompting some Liberal MPs to call for his early resignation. Defense Minister McCallum has been criticized as well for adding to the public confusion in the early stages of the outage by suggesting, also incorrectly, that the failure involved a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. ¶4. (C) Comment: Efforts to reach host government officials about the power situation and the government's handling of the crisis met with little success this first day back to work. We will pass along new information as it comes available. ¶5. (C) Comment continued: Though electric power is a provincial responsibility, ordinary citizens and a number of MPs have voiced fresh outrage over the apparent lack of communication within the federal government throughout the power crisis and the Prime Minister's disengagement. Such expressions of disappointment are almost futile, however, given the few months remaining in Chretien's political tenure and his focus on pending retirement. Nonetheless, in view of the already existing rifts within the Liberal Caucus (one third oppose gay unions being pushed by the administration), this week's annual meeting promises to be lively. End comment. CELLUCCI