Didn't I read somewhere about slippage in Canada with dates and then we get this "happy talk" or should I say "appropriately modulated message"(SPIN).

3:00 a.m. 22.Jun.99.PDT TORONTO -- Canada's electricity, banking, and phone systems are ready to meet the new millennium, industry leaders told a high-level meeting with federal ministers Monday. The execs stopped short of offering guarantees, although they came about as close as Canadians can expect. Canada does not have disclosure laws to protect companies that make statements about their state of readiness.

Alex Giosa, spokesman for the telecommunications industry, told the gathering that the public-switch system that people count on to place phone calls was declared Y2K-compliant late last year.

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The reliability of the entire system is about "99.9 percent," Giosa said.

"Services people depend upon everyday -- like local and long-distance, toll-free, and wireless calls -- have been tested and no problems have been encountered," said a report Giosa presented at the meeting.

The Canadian Bankers Association reiterated its commitment that money deposited with its members would be safe. A weekend test of transactions between Canadian banks and branches overseas went off without a hitch, said Association President Ray Protti.

But Protti urged Canadian ministers charged with watching the Y2K problem to actively dissuade citizens from emptying their bank accounts on New Year's Eve. He pointed to US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's recent comment that withdrawing money provided more opportunities for thieves.

The Canadian Electricity Association boasted that Canadian power companies exceeded the North American average for Year 2000 readiness. A spokesman said extensive tests done in collaboration with US power companies showed there was no reason for the public to worry the lights won't come on.

Monday's so-called working session between the private sector and Canada's Industry Minister John Manley and the President of the Treasury Board, Marcel Massi, was billed as an opportunity for frank discussion.

What actually took place was a carefully planned joint-communications exercise, designed to reassure Canadians that they won't need to stock up on cash or test their phones for a dial tone on 1 January.

The ministers acknowledged that getting the "appropriately modulated message" out to the public has surpassed remediation as their biggest Y2K priority.

"One of the key issues is whether in some of the sectors we don't need a communications plan to prevent the kind of behavior we want to avoid," Manley said. "We don't want to provoke a lot of people doing home-testing of their systems at a crucial moment."

The real areas of concern in Canada continue to be the health-care, municipal, and small-business sectors. A recent poll by Decima suggested that up to 300,000 small businesses in Canada have not begun to address Y2K issues. A special government committee on Y2K, led by representatives of the ruling Liberal party, is the only official organization publicly scrutinizing those areas.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), June 22, 1999

Answers

"Private and public sector slipping on Y2K"

http://www.canoe.com/TechNews9906/01_y2k.html

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 22, 1999.

As long as Molson and Labatt are working and the Zambonis keep resurfacing the ice this country will manage to function [g]

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), June 22, 1999.

I have it on good authority that things are going to be ok in Canada, ah.

Red Green said so.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), June 22, 1999.

Greybear,

Did you know that one of Red Green's favourite sayings is "Duct Tape is the handyman's friend"?

Hmmmmm......maybe he's sending out secret Y2K messages? I wonder if Red and Scary Gary have ever been seen in the same room together. Makes ya wonder, don't it?

PS Is Possum Lodge Y2K compliant?

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), June 23, 1999.