Kinew ‘open to everything’ after Bell’s 911 failures

Premier Wab Kinew expressed openness to various options, potentially switching 911 providers, following a series of outages in Manitoba. Premier Kinew discussed his openness with Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic and Prime Minister Mark Carney regarding Manitoba's 911 service. He emphasized the importance of a reliable 911 service, stating that dialing 911 should connect callers to necessary help, be it an ambulance, fire truck, or police.

Kinew is awaiting Bell's draft report on the most recent outage, which affected five provinces, including Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The report, required after such a disruption, will detail steps taken to resolve the issue, the number of affected callers, and plans to prevent similar problems.

Premier Kinew's concerns about 911 service were raised following previous outages, including a July 22 outage affecting all of Manitoba except Winnipeg for nearly four hours. Bell has stated that next-generation 911 service, which will allow text messages, photos, videos, or medical information to first responders, will be more reliable than the current system.