Update: Stupidity and Bureaucrats
So, it's now 9:20 p.m. and, lo and behold, I'm still sitting in camp.
As the day wore on, the plan evolved to having a float plane leave La Ronge at 6 p.m., bringing in several people and then returning to La Ronge with Ron and I. However, we got a call about 6:20, and were told that the plane was unable to take off because of poor visibility, due to heavy rain in La Ronge.
One would think that this would solve our problem: it's raining heavily that planes can't take off from La Ronge, which would seem to suggest that the forest fires are no longer a problem in the vicinity of La Ronge, and therefore that the highway should be open to traffic.
This simplistic solution to the problem overlooks the fact that people, particularly those in government, are frequently idiots.
Apparently, although the highway is safe to travel over now, the opening of the highway requires the approval of a bureaucrat in Regina. Right now, the closure of the highway is being enforced by the RCMP. Since it is now the weekend, it seems unlikely that said bureaucrat will grant this approval until Monday. So, many people are unnecessarily inconvenienced (keep in mind: the highway has been closed since Tuesday and it is the only road access to communities north of La Ronge), because some government official can't be bothered to say, "Oh, yeah, you can probably start letting people through now."
That's the situation as it stands. The plan for tomorrow is that a flight will be attempted for 8:00 a.m., provided visibility has cleared up sufficiently for the plane to take-off. This will put us in La Ronge for hopefully 10:30 or 11:00, which means I'll get to Saskatoon late afternoon, and then continue on into Regina that evening. I'd be mad if the whole situation wasn't so funny; it's the kind of thing that would show up in a movie, not in real life.
As the day wore on, the plan evolved to having a float plane leave La Ronge at 6 p.m., bringing in several people and then returning to La Ronge with Ron and I. However, we got a call about 6:20, and were told that the plane was unable to take off because of poor visibility, due to heavy rain in La Ronge.
One would think that this would solve our problem: it's raining heavily that planes can't take off from La Ronge, which would seem to suggest that the forest fires are no longer a problem in the vicinity of La Ronge, and therefore that the highway should be open to traffic.
This simplistic solution to the problem overlooks the fact that people, particularly those in government, are frequently idiots.
Apparently, although the highway is safe to travel over now, the opening of the highway requires the approval of a bureaucrat in Regina. Right now, the closure of the highway is being enforced by the RCMP. Since it is now the weekend, it seems unlikely that said bureaucrat will grant this approval until Monday. So, many people are unnecessarily inconvenienced (keep in mind: the highway has been closed since Tuesday and it is the only road access to communities north of La Ronge), because some government official can't be bothered to say, "Oh, yeah, you can probably start letting people through now."
That's the situation as it stands. The plan for tomorrow is that a flight will be attempted for 8:00 a.m., provided visibility has cleared up sufficiently for the plane to take-off. This will put us in La Ronge for hopefully 10:30 or 11:00, which means I'll get to Saskatoon late afternoon, and then continue on into Regina that evening. I'd be mad if the whole situation wasn't so funny; it's the kind of thing that would show up in a movie, not in real life.
posted by Matt at 9:24 p.m.
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