Set up phone alert system

Receiving a prompt alert during a dangerous emergency could spell the difference between life and death. But Canadians still don’t have a modern, cellphone-based warning system, and there’s no good excuse for this lack of protection.

The U.S. has used wireless emergency alerts for more than four years, advising people of threats ranging from imminent tornadoes to terrorist attacks.

The system was deployed last week to warn New Yorkers about Ahmad Khan Rahami, the object of a police manhunt in connection with a bombing that wounded 29 people in Manhattan. But this isn’t yet possible in Canada. The best this country can offer is a system that relies on broadcasters to interrupt programming and air an emergency-alert message to audiences deemed at risk. It doesn’t do much for people who aren’t listening to the radio or watching TV when a crisis occurs.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is considering creation of a mobilephone warning system, with a pilot project recently wrapping up in Ontario’s Durham Region involving mock alerts sent to selected cellphone users. It’s hard to see why this experiment was necessary.

The priority should be to set up a workable alert system as quickly as possible, with the current U.S. approach serving as an especially useful model. It could be upgraded as technology advances.