Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report
The Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report is a compilation of summaries of publicly available emergency management information concerning critical infrastructure.
A summary of feedback results is now available.
News | Cyber tracking | Relevant links | Note to readers
DIR10-121 - June 24, 2010
News
Suspected tornado hits Midland, Ontario
On June 24, CBC reported that a suspected tornado tore through a trailer park in Midland, Ontario, knocking out power for most of the area and causing extensive damage, including smashed roofs, windows and cars. Trailers were piled up and the area was sealed off over fears of a potential gas leak. There were some injuries; however, no deaths or serious injuries. According to CBC, the Mayor of Midland declared a state of emergency and indicated that the damage was "severe" in the whole south end. Provincial police said numerous roads in the area were closed because of downed trees and power lines. Hydro One indicated that 8,500 customers in the area were without power and service crews were on the scene. Environment Canada had issued a tornado warning for the area and indicated that radar showed a severe storm had likely produced a tornado in the area. There have also been reports of funnel clouds spotted near Orillia, Ontario. The Ontario government issued a red alert for a region of the province bounded by Penatanguishine in the north, Barrie in the south, Collingwood in the west and Orillia in the east. The weather agency had also issued a tornado watch for Windsor and areas including Leamington and Essex County.
Source article – CBC, June 24, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, June 24, 2010
Earthquake felt in Ontario and Quebec
On June 23, Earthquakes Canada recorded that a 5.0-magnitude earthquake occurred at just after 13:30 EDT, eight kilometres east of Val-des-Bois in southwestern Quebec, about 55 kilometres northeast of Ottawa. Media reported that the quake was felt across southern and eastern Ontario and western Quebec, as well as in some U.S. states. The quake caused some evacuations in Ottawa, Toronto and Winsdor and some school closures. In Gracefield, Quebec, about 100 kilometres north of Ottawa, a state of emergency was declared. A section of Highway 307 near Bowman, Que., north of Ottawa, collapsed into a river as a result of the quake, shutting down that route. A Telus spokesperson in Toronto indicated that the quake didn't cause any outages; however, the higher call volumes immediately afterward overwhelmed the system, which meant that people couldn't get through. No injuries were reported.On June 23, VIA Rail issued a Travel Advisory indicating that trains travelling east of Kingston will experience 2.5-hour delay because of infrastructure inspections due to the earthquake.
Source article – Earthquakes Canada, June 23, 2010
Source article - CBC, June 23, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, June 23, 2010
Source article – canada.com, June 23, 2010
Source article - VIA Rail, June 23, 2010
Problems booking VIA Rail during G20 Summit
To update on Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report DIR10-107, on June 22, CBC reported that VIA Rail will be using shuttle buses to transport passengers to the Greater Toronto Area during the G20 Summit but isn't currently allowing them to book tickets online to Toronto for the summit weekend. A VIA Rail spokesperson indicated that VIA Rail will try to fix this problem, but did not indicate when or how. VIA Rail began restricting vehicle access to Toronto's Union Station on June 16 in preparation for the G20 Summit. Passenger train service will revert to normal on June 28, unless there is a labour disruption. Currently, Via Rail is in negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers, the union representing its employees, and a strike deadline has been set for June 27 at 23:59.
Source article – CBC, June 22, 2010
Restrictions lifted from Alberta slaughter facility
On June 23, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that it has conclusively ruled out federally reportable diseases, including foot-and-mouth disease and swine vesicular disease, in pigs at an Alberta slaughter facility. Based on these results, the CFIA has lifted all movement restrictions. The facility has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and has resumed regular business. There is no human health or food safety concern associated with this incident.
Source article - Canadian Food Inspection Agency, June 23, 2010
CFIA issues Health Hazard Alert for certain cardamom seed products due to possible Salmonella
On June 23, the CFIA issued a Health Hazard Alert warning the public not to consume certain cardamom seed products because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products. The distributors are voluntarily recalling the affected products from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
Source article - Canadian Food Inspection Agency, June 23, 2010
The CFIA provides more information about Salmonella.
Road improvements for CentrePort Canada in Winnipeg
On June 18, Transport Canada announced the start of construction of various road improvements around CentrePort Canada, the 20,000-acre inland port in Winnipeg. Work includes the start of the first stage of development for the four-lane divided expressway known as CentrePort Canada Way and upgrades to Highway 75. These road improvements will provide better, more efficient highway access to CentrePort Canada and nearby assets including Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and the Canadian Pacific Weston Rail intermodal facility. They will also help trade to move more effectively across Canada and into the Asia Pacific Gateway, as well as south through the Emerson border crossing and into the United States and Mexico.
Source article – Transport Canada, June 18, 2010
Source article – CentrePort Canada, June 18, 2010
Cyber tracking
CCIRC security publications
Over the course of the past 24 hours, CCIRC has not released any security publications.
CCIRC provides a list of recent and archived security publications.
Threat and vulnerability monitoring
CCIRC has not detected any new significant threats or vulnerabilities. Personnel responsible for information, systems and network security should continue to monitor and apply appropriate security precautions.
Relevant links
Below are links to sites related to Canada’s critical infrastructure.
- Food Recalls and Allergy Alerts
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
- Health Advisories, Warnings and Recalls
Health Canada
- Disease Outbreak News
World Health Organization
- Travel Health Notices
Public Health Agency of Canada
- Transportation - Safety
Transport Canada
- Travel Reports and Warnings
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
- Weather warnings for Canada
Environment Canada
- Earthquakes
Earthquakes Canada
- Hurricanes
Canadian Hurricane Centre
- Hurricanes
U.S. National Hurricane Center
- News Releases
Infrastructure Canada
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Note to readers
Public Safety Canada collects information related to cyber and physical threats to, and events concerning, Canadian critical infrastructure. This allows Public Safety Canada to monitor and analyze threats and to issue alerts, advisories and other information products.
Links to sites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided solely for the convenience of users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The Government of Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.
Public Safety Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both English and French. However, users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.