Tallest Man on Earth not playing folk fest

BRANDON — Local business owners should prepare for the possibility that severe weather could disrupt their operations — even when their facilities escape major damage, a climate resilience expert told the Brandon Chamber of Commerce last week.

Emilia Cameron of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction told attendees at a September luncheon the recent flooding and heavy rainfall across southern Manitoba affected several businesses.

“Businesses need to prepare not just for direct damages to buildings, but for wide disruptions that can prevent them from operating,” she said. “Road closures, power outages, damaged infrastructure, internet failures and employees being unable to reach work can all bring operations to a standstill.”

Supply chains can also be affected when suppliers cannot reach their customers, she said.

Treat the disease

I understand there are valid concerns regarding specific short term rentals (STR) in Winnipeg. However, the article raised other alarms for me.

Winston Yee, the city’s manager of licensing and bylaw enforcement, stated the purpose of the new requirement (reporting 911 calls for STR) is “so we can become aware of issues.” So he isn’t aware of “the issues” yet? Are there not systems in place to obtain this information? Doesn’t the city know which addresses have high calls for emergency service? I sure hope the city’s systems aren’t so antiquated that it can’t cross-reference emergency calls with the STR registry.

I think the focus needs to be on the behavior, rather than the ownership structure. Part of the proposed solution to “parties, noise, violence, vandalism and other criminal activity” is to require owners of STR to advise the city when an emergency responder attends the property.