Longstanding advice remains in place
Ottawa is maintaining its recommendation that households across Canada be prepared to manage for at least 72 hours without running water or electricity during an emergency. The guidance has drawn renewed attention after governments in the United Kingdom, France and Japan issued similar preparedness messages, prompting online discussion about whether Canadians should be doing more.
Public Safety Canada says the three-day benchmark is not a new response to those international announcements. The department has been advising Canadians for years to make arrangements that would allow them to look after themselves and their households during the early stages of a crisis. The advice is particularly relevant in a city such as Ottawa, where residents may face very different challenges depending on whether they live in a dense urban neighbourhood, a suburban community or a rural area beyond the city’s central districts.
“Canadians have been encouraged for many years to ... be ready to take care of themselves and their households for a minimum of 72 hours during an emergency.”
Zarah Malik, a Public Safety Canada spokesperson, provided the statement to CBC News. The department’s position is that residents should be prepared for interruptions to basic services rather than waiting until a storm, infrastructure failure or other emergency is already unfolding. That means planning for a period when obtaining water, food or other necessities may be difficult.
Severe weather remains a Canadian example
Recent events in Ontario and Quebec offer a clear example of why the recommendation continues to be emphasized. An ice storm in April 2023 left more than one million residents without power across the two provinces. The event demonstrated how a major weather system can affect a large area at once and leave households dealing with an extended disruption.
For Ottawa residents, the federal guidance centres on basic supplies that can be used if electricity or municipal water service is unavailable. The material cited by Public Safety Canada includes non-perishable food and bottled water. A household’s needs will vary, but the central goal is the same: to have enough on hand to avoid relying immediately on stores, outside assistance or functioning utilities.
- Minimum planning period: 72 hours without running water or electricity.
- Core supplies identified in the guidance: bottled water and non-perishable food.
- Additional advice: some experts say households would be better served by preparing for a full week.
International campaigns renew attention
The discussion has gained momentum overseas. In Britain, some retailers reported increased sales of essential goods after the government launched its Be Ready campaign on Oct. 22. Officials there pointed to cyberattacks and severe weather as possible causes of service disruptions and encouraged residents to keep three days of supplies at home. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said unexpected events appeared to be occurring more often and that households should have supplies available.
Authorities in Normandy, France, also used social media on Oct. 27 to urge residents to prepare a bag containing essentials for three days. Japan, meanwhile, launched a new national agency focused on disaster management on Monday as part of a wider disaster-planning effort. Those developments have led to speculation online that Canada might revise its own recommendations. Public Safety Canada, however, says the Canadian three-day advice has been in place for many years.
Some preparedness specialists argue that a longer buffer would be more practical, with a week of supplies providing additional time during a major outage or weather event. The federal position described in the source material does not replace the 72-hour recommendation with a seven-day requirement. For Ottawa households, the immediate message is to begin with the established minimum and consider whether their circumstances call for more.
The advice also highlights the difference between having a plan and responding after an emergency begins. Residents may need to consider how they would manage if stores, roads or communication systems were affected at the same time as water or power service. The experience of the 2023 ice storm shows that interruptions can extend beyond a single neighbourhood and affect communities in both provinces. Public Safety Canada’s unchanged recommendation therefore remains a practical baseline for households preparing for the next disruption.
