The Ottawa Citizen, Thursday, August 26, 1999 is veering from a pre-release report Tuesday that indicated the Canadian government would say its 23 depts were ready. Its first sentence stresses a point almost in rebuttal to the CBC show that mentioned government cheques might not be ready.

(for educational purposes only)

"Government says its critical systems are ready for Y2K

OTTAWA (CP) - Government services that Canadians depend on such as Old Age Security cheques, the passport office and employment insurance are 100 per cent ready for the year 2000.

Treasury Board officials declared Thursday that overall the government's most critical systems are 99 per cent prepared for Jan. 1, 2000, which means they have been identified, fixed and tested.

Guy McKenzie, in charge of the Year 2000 file for Treasury Board, underlined that this doesn't mean Ottawa is guaranteeing nothing will go wrong on New Year's Eve or afterward.

"I always want to be clear about the fact that this isn't a blanket assurance," McKenzie said.

Government departments are still working to finalize contingency plans for the new year, to ensure that if something does happen to go wrong, services will continue to be delivered.

There are still no firm estimates on how many public servants will be asked to report to work on and around New Year's Eve.

Of the hundreds of other non-critical computers and pieces of equipment that the government controls, 94 per cent are considered prepared.

Canadian Heritage continues to lag behind at just 72 per cent readiness.

The government's attention will now shift to compiling data on how other sectors are faring in their remediation efforts, and what back-up plans are in place to deal with meltdowns.

A trilateral meeting has also been convened with top U.S. and Mexican Y2K officials for October in Ottawa, which will likely centre around shared interests such as customs and airports."

If anyone can find a Treasury Board report on which this article is based, I would appreciate your providing a link to it.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999

Answers

Try going here directly:

Link

I can't wait till they work out all those customs and airport things where we share interests!

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999.

Okay, the link was a bust.

Try going to the previous link and clicking on National News. The story is down the page a few stories.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999.

Does this work?

Here

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999.

Wow, this link stuff is more complicated than I thought. I think I understand the problem now, however.

Last try

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999.

Instead of wasting even more bandwidth, use the "Last Try" and when it says Not Found simply add "642.html" to the end of the URL and it should go directly to the correct article.

AAARRRRRGGGH

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Nothere, Sorry for all the linking probs. The site for the article posted above is http://www.ottawacitizen.com From the front page, click on "National News" and then go down about halfway to click on the article.

The story was on CBC news, too. Interesting that one person interviewed said this report puts Canada ahead of all other governments! And there is a nice, thick hard copy version of the report. Now to hunt for it online!

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Rachel

Here is the Treasury Board status page, if you find it anywhere it will be here

 Info2000: Federal Government Progress on Year 2000 as of July 1999

and if you want more information this is my page for the Canadian Government

 Canadian Government
 

I noticed the "trilateral meeting" didn't mention water. They had a meeting earlier in the year about it.

Also this little tidbit

"The government's attention will now shift to compiling data on how other
       sectors are faring in their remediation efforts, and what back-up plans are in
       place to deal with meltdowns."

I don't think you would ever see the word "meltdown" used in the US Press discribing their Government Y2K plans.

Oh and customs is under Revenue Canada which was the first major government department in the world to be compliant. The tax system in Canada will be working. Just hope the businesses are up on the situation,,,,,, or no taxes.

Thanks for the link

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 27, 1999.

Rachel

A couple of comments

Canada was "lucky" that Revenue Canada started compliance standards in 1988 so that department was able to help in remediation efforts.

And the Canadian Government does seem to be ahead of the rest of the world. Health Canada really dropped the ball though not playing hard ball right away with equipment suppliers. This of course does not mean smooth sailing though.

Another thing that helped is the Auditor General turned doomer in 1997 and got things rolling big time without the wishy washy attitude that is common now.

"The Auditor General reported later that year on the work to repair the Year 2000 problem in the federal government, and the Committee followed up with the Chief Information Officer at Industry Canada on the corrective efforts being made in the Department. Alarmed by what it found, the Task Force reported well before its deadline in February 1998."

That is from the first report from Industry Canada. All the Canadian Testimony is on my web site above. Matter of fact my web site is the only one you will find all the Industry Canada Testimony.

My big worry is municipalities. Water in particular.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 27, 1999.

This report does not provide a status report for the country. A report showing the federal government systems at 99% overall completed with 2 of the mission critical systems yet to be implemented, is useful but at some point the feds will need to be held accountable for a national report covering all sectors. Canada is among the world leaders in dealing with this issue but lacks a single national coordinator capable of producing a consolidated summary. Municipalities, healthcare, and many business sectors continue to have high risk of Y2K related failures starting on Jan. 1, 2000. Take care, Joe

-- Joe Boivin (jboivin@globalmf.org), August 27, 1999.

Yes, Brian, your site is wonderful, and I thank you for it. I've been going to Industry Canada's site to read what is reported to them by the various industry associations, but of course this self- reporting with apparent lack of I V & V makes it difficult to assess the veracity of what is being told to the committee.

You're right, of course, Joe; guess Industry Canada is our best/only hope. Wish the Defence Dept. would come out with its risk assessment.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Joe B.

Wow a blast from the past, wondering if you have heard anything about the chemical - refining industries in Canada. It is a big deal in the states and Nada up here. Is it like we make the plants differant up here or what?

As far as a top Y2K god in Canada, if he - she turned out like John Koskinen, no thanks. I thought thats why The National Contingency Planning Group was started. Of course it is to late for that now.

Rachel

Glad you enjoy the testimony, bloody shame the Government had to "hide" it.

I don't know if there are any Canadians out there that would like to try a forum for this country as we have differant issues up here. Joe your support would help in such an effort. Just thought I would throw that out.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 27, 1999.

Just to give you folks a little context with regard to Joe Boivin. On the Russ Kelly Experts' rating site, Joe comes in at a 10.0 on the August poll. Tied with Scary Gary. (But I don't think Joe is into the theocracy thing.)

Regards

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Johnny, Yes, Joe has been quite consistent. So have you. :)

Brian, I have come across a few Canadian discussion groups, mostly in Ontario, but their discussions appear to be quite local in nature. And, Steve Baxter in Edmonton had set one up from his site (www.albertaweb.com/year2000), but anonymous posting was not possible.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Here is another article on the same report. No mention of I V & V nor of end-to-end testing, and the word "compliancy" does not appear. Brian, Joe, do you think such a large report will be put online in its entirety?

"Government of Canada Meets Year 2000 Milestone Canada Newswire

OTTAWA, August 26 /CNW/ - The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat released today its final monthly progress on the Year 2000 readiness of the Government of Canada's essential services. The report confirms that the government has reached a crucial milestone.

"I am pleased to report that the Government of Canada has completed 99 percent of the work required to prepare its mission- critical services. This achievement, in combination with our contingency planning efforts, puts us in an excellent position to make the transition into the Year 2000," said the Honourable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board of Canada and Member of Parliament for Westmount-Ville-Marie.

The Treasury Board Secretariat is the federal department responsible for leading and co-ordinating Year 2000 readiness efforts for the Government of Canada.

The report confirms that many of the government services considered essential to the health, safety, security and economic well-being of Canadians have been fully repaired, tested and implemented. While this is a significant achievement for the Government of Canada, much work remains to be done to ensure as smooth a transition as possible into the Year 2000.

"Year 2000 experts recognize that it is simply impossible to eliminate all Year 2000 errors from computerized systems. Even with our best efforts, we must assume there could be disruptions and have back-up plans ready," said Minister Robillard.

The federal government will also continue to work closely with other levels of government and the private sector to ensure Canada makes as smooth a transition as possible into the Year 2000, and to co-operate with other countries in the interest of Canadians who work, travel, or have business abroad.

The Government of Canada is also committed to continuing to provide Canadians with timely information on its Year 2000 work over the coming months."

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 28, 1999.

The Treasury Board Report is at http://www.info2000.gc.ca/Publications/GovtRpts/Dept/ProgressJuly1999_ E.htm and is 782 KB long. Downloadable in rtf.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 29, 1999.

Thanks Rachel

Sounds like good news, now I hope the rest of the country stands up around the Government. :o)

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 29, 1999.