The government of Prince Edward Island's Y2K Transition Management Team is in place and will be on standby to carefully monitor and coordinate provincial government's Y2K transition activities at its Year 2000 Central Coordination Office in Charlottetown from December 29, 1999 to January 5, 2000.
"The objective of the transition management team will be to monitor the Y2K event from an international, national, provincial and departmental perspective, to make recommendations to management for escalation, if required, and to keep the public apprised of the status of provincial government services," said Chris Payne, Provincial Year 2000 Project Coordinator. "The health and safety of Islanders has been the driving force behind all work to date and will remain top priorities of government throughout the rollover period."
The provincial government has been working on the Y2K project since 1996. Eighty-eight essential and mission critical services have been identified within provincial government. Departments and agencies have taken all reasonable precautions to ensure readiness. Contingency plans are in place to ensure that provincial government services will be maintained in the unlikely event of a Y2K-related disruption.
Essential services are those which are vital to the health and safety of Islanders and to the security of government records and data management. For example, Islanders should not anticipate major interruptions in health care service. Health and Social Services staff have been working with health professionals and essential service providers in the community and across the country to ensure that services and systems continue as usual through January 1, 2000, and beyond. Staff and physicians in Island hospitals and nursing homes will be working to provice service as usual.
Social services clients will receive their monthly social assistance cheques as usual. Cheques for January were printed last week and will be in the mail before January 1, 2000. Likewise, provincial government pensioners and employees will receive their cheques at the regular time in the new year. Building maintenance for government facilities, including hospitals, seniors' housing, schools, manors, and correctional facilities in the province are also Y2K ready.
Within provincial government, 88 essential services have been identified, tested, remediated (if necessary) and re-tested. In addition, contingency plans are in place to provide essential services, even in the unlikely event that there are problems with the Y2K transition. Examples of essential services ready for the transition to the year 2000 include: biomedical devices, correctional facilities, driver vehicle registration information system, highway lights, highway maintenance vehicle fleet, agriculture laboratory equipment, information systems across government and provincial government building systems including heating/cooling systems, elevators and security systems.
Payne advised that although no problems are anticipated at this time for the Y2K transition, Islanders are encouraged to prepare a back-up plan, such as one used during a storm. "It is always a good idea to have on hand flashlights and a radio with extra batteries for both, topped up fuel tanks, and a three-day supply of water and non-perishable food as normal precautions," said Payne.
Unless advised otherwise, provincial government systems and services will operate as usual throughout the Y2K transition weekend and beyond.
For further information about the Year 2000 Challenge and the provincial government, visit the Year 2000 Challenge Web site at www.gov.pe.ca/y2k, contact the Year 2000 Central Project office at 368-6665 or send an e-mail message to y2k@gov.pe.ca.