US embassy cable - 03HALIFAX329

UNCLAS HALIFAX 000329 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, AEMR, MOPS, CA 
SUBJECT: PICKING UP THE PIECES AFTER HURRICANE JUAN 
 
REF: HALIFAX 308 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED --  PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (U)  Nine days after Hurricane Juan, life in Nova Scotia and 
Prince Edward Island has largely returned to normal, although 
several thousand people still remain without power in a number 
of hard-hit areas, including some near the center of Halifax. 
While Juan's human toll was relatively small -- two deaths 
directly attributable to the storm and three indirectly caused 
when a candle started a fire in a house without electricity -- 
the economic impact is still being added up.  Premier John Hamm 
told the provincial legislature that he expects the damage toll 
to be in the range of C$100 million (US$75 million), although 
that number could well climb as more detailed assessments are 
made.  The Royal Bank's Senior VP responsible for Atlantic 
Canada, Wayne Bossert, told Consul General that the overall 
effect of the storm on regional GDP growth could be slightly 
positive, with business and farm losses more than 
counterbalanced by the stimulative effect of rebuilding efforts. 
 In Bossert's view the level of insurance coverage will 
ultimately determine whether Juan adds or subtracts a percentage 
point or so from Atlantic Canada's economic growth rate for the 
year. 
 
2.  (U)  Harder to assess and repair than damage to homes, farms 
and businesses will be the impact on the ambience and quality of 
life in Halifax, Charlottetown and other areas caused by the 
wholesale uprooting of trees.  Halifax's Point Pleasant Park, 
for example, was transformed overnight from a leafy refuge to a 
tangle of downed hardwoods.  News coverage does not really 
capture the full extent of the damage done to parks and some of 
the city's older tree-lined neighborhoods.  While wood carvers 
may see a silver lining to the storm due to abundant supplies of 
timber in the near term, the vast majority of residents and 
visitors will be worse off until new maples and oaks have had 
time to grow and replace those that have been lost. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Politically, the seeming indifference of Ottawa to 
the effect of the storm on Nova Scotia and PEI could exacerbate 
a feeling in the Atlantic Provinces that no one in the rest of 
Canada pays much attention to what goes on here.  Liberal 
leader-to-be Paul Martin visited Nova Scotia shortly after the 
hurricane, but the absence of senior government officials and 
particularly the Prime Minister has been -- fairly or not -- 
noted and commented on unfavorably.  On the positive side, the 
cleanup efforts of hundreds of Canadian military personnel have 
gone down well with the general public, as has the work of power 
line and tree trimming crews from Maine.  There have even been 
reports of arriving cruise ship passengers -- many from the U.S. 
-- volunteering to help with cleanup efforts. 
 
4.  (U)  CONSULATE OPERATIONS:  Response of Consulate staff to 
this crisis has been outstanding.  The office fortunately 
suffered no damage in the storm and we were able to open to the 
public on September 30 after power was restored.  Staff members 
-- many of whom had no electricity at home for much of the week 
-- skirted fallen trees and downed power lines to get into work; 
we have been operating at full strength since October 1. 
 
 
 
 
 
HILL