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Canada, US form task force to investigate blackout
Toronto, Aug 16: Canada and the US formed a joint task force to investigate what caused the huge North American power blackout and how to prevent it from happening again.
Toronto, Aug 16: Canada and the US formed a joint task force to investigate what caused the huge North American power blackout and how to prevent it from happening again.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's office announced the task force after he spoke by phone with US President George W Bush on the outage that left 50 million people on both sides of the border without power.
``Canada and the United States agreed to form a joint task force to identify the causes of the recent power outage that affected North America and to seek solutions to help prevent future outages,'' said a statement yesterday read by Thoren Hudyma, a spokeswoman for Chretien.
The task force to be chaired by US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Canadian Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal would begin work immediately, though no timeframe was set for its work, Hudyma said.
During the 10-minute phone call initiated by Bush, she said, the US President said the two countries needed a solution to the problem presented by aging power grids they share.
Lights came back yesterday across a swath of central Canada hit by the blackout but in the aftermath of the biggest outage in North American history was disrupted travel and pleas for people to use as little electricity as possible.
Chretien, in his first statement since the outage occurred a day earlier, said he would speak to Bush later and praised cooperation between the North American neighbors in dealing with the crisis.
His tone differed from earlier accusations traded by Canadian and US officials about who was to blame for the outage. Bureau Report
During the 10-minute phone call initiated by Bush, she said, the US President said the two countries needed a solution to the problem presented by aging power grids they share.
Lights came back yesterday across a swath of central Canada hit by the blackout but in the aftermath of the biggest outage in North American history was disrupted travel and pleas for people to use as little electricity as possible.
Chretien, in his first statement since the outage occurred a day earlier, said he would speak to Bush later and praised cooperation between the North American neighbors in dealing with the crisis.
His tone differed from earlier accusations traded by Canadian and US officials about who was to blame for the outage. Bureau Report