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Y2K top priority in Great White North by Erik J. Martin Canada may not exactly be a world superpower. But compared to most other nations, its late efforts to squash the dreaded Y2K doomsday bug fall nothing short of super. According to the Gartner Group, the world's leading research firm tracking Year 2000 preparedness across the globe, Canada is among the nations most prepared for the Y2K crisis. It joins the United States, Israel, Australia, Holland and a handful of other countries as being at least 50 percent ahead of the rest of the world in cleansing their computers of the millennium bug. The Canadian Treasury Board reports that more than 80 percent of the preparation work to fix the federal government's Y2K glitches had been completed. The federal government alone is spending roughly $2 billion to correct Y2K snafus. June 30 is the deadline for all 48 mission-critical functions within the government to be tested and Y2K compliant. Already, vital government departments such as the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Consular Affairs, Employment Insurance and the Canadian Passport Office are 100 percent up to snuff for 2000. What's more, Canada has a worst-case scenario plan in effect. It's called Operation Abacus, named after the ancient hand-held Chinese calculator that is technology goof-proof. A five-phase plan, Abacus will involve top commanders assessing the Y2K situation and devising contingency plans and training troops for Y2K disasters. If necessary, Abacus also calls for deployment of 32,000 Canadian soldiers, including reservists, who can be called upon to assist law enforcement agencies, and provide security to the countries infrastructure and humanitarian aid. These folks aren't fooling around in the land of the maple leaf: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has restricted its 16,000 officers from taking leave between late December, 1999 and mid-March, 2000. The country's financial sector is now well-prepared for Y2K, as well, and big disruptions are unlikely, reported the Bank of Canada recently. If the latest statistics are any indication, Great White North businesses won't grind to a halt early next year. In March, a special U.S. Senate committee on the Year 2000 indicated that 70 percent of Canadian business and 94 percent of medium and large companies have created programs geared toward avoiding Y2K problems. In the spirit of cooperation, Canada has also joined a group of countries, including Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and South Africa, in taking a coordinated approach to snuffing out Y2K problems. It figures that by sharing knowledge and helping its neighbors, the country may have a better chance of warding off its own Y2K demons. Canada is so proactive on the millennium bug issue that certain areas of the country like Ottawa are mailing out brochures to millions of households in an effort to educate citizens on Y2K compliance. You tell me what other nation's governments are mailing its citizens Y2K public information materials - certainly not the US of A. It's no wonder that citizen confidence in Canada's Y2K strategies is high. Nearly 80 percent of Canadians polled by Canada's industry department late last year were confident that the federal government and private businesses could avert significant Year 2000 problems. A federal survey also found that about three out of four Canadians consider the millennium bug harmless. Compare these findings to a more recent ABC News poll revealing that only 56 percent of Americans believe that both the federal government and private businesses are doing enough to prepare for Y2K, and nearly one-third of Americans are getting Y2K jitters. Not all the news from the north is rosy, however. The Gartner Group's findings also indicated that Canada was more vulnerable to interruptions in its import and export trade as well as government services, especially at the provincial and municipal levels. While financial institutions like insurance companies and banks are well-prepared, hospitals, schools and the agriculture industry are not. And despite the government's progress on fixing the majority of its critical systems, high ranking officials like Auditor General Denis Desautels have been vocal about the worrisome possibilities of "slippage and unexpected problems" occurring throughout this year and the next. Even Canada's chief information officer Linda Lizotte-MacPherson anticipates some "minor glitches" and "disruptions" to happen. Nevertheless, the prospects for Year 2000 stability in Canada look good thus far. The Great White North may not be known for much, but, along with Y2K compliant neighbors like the United States, it's helping to set the millennium bug-free standard for the rest of the world to follow. For more information on Canada's Y2K efforts and reports of the latest progress, visit the government's Y2K Web site at www.info2000.gc.ca . 1999 Thomson Target Media Erik J. Martin is a freelance journalist who has penned a regular multimedia column for Screen Magazine and has written for a variety of other publications, including the Chicago Tribune, Coverstory and The X-Files Official Magazine. He lives in Oak Lawn, Illinois, with his wife, son, and the Millennium Bug, which he is still trying to exterminate from his PC. Certainly no self-proclaimed technowhiz, Erik prides himself on being "an average guy with the same concerns and questions about Y2K as everyone else. My job? To get answers to those questions, and pass them along to you." 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