Tragic failure to employ mobile phone alert.

I always had a special feeling for the RCMP. Perhaps it was because as a boy in Ireland, whose Saturday afternoons were spent at the 'pictures', as we called the movies, the disciplined, elegantly uniformed, well spoken screen Canadian hero was such a contrast to the loosely disciplined vulgar American Cowboy who was his counterpart in the Great country to our south. Don't get me wrong, for years I worshiped Gene Autry. the singing hero and his goofy side kick, Gabby Hayes and a myriad of others. It was just that they were lacking in 'class' in an era when class mattered. Particularly when you had a little yourself - or thought you had! The picture of the debonairly clad officer who always did right and who 'always got his man', even if he had to spend years trekking across the frozen North, is with me yet. He was part of the mystique of Canada!
So when I read recently of the terrible tragedy in Portapique, Nova Scotia when 22 people were murdered (including a RCMP Officer), over a 14 hour period I was curious to read how the case had been managed. The question has been raised over why the Nova Scotia RCMP had not issued a mobile phone emergency alert. Wireless public alerting is specifically to send public safety messages to the public on their cell phones. Cell broadcast is similar to radio broadcast and allows messages to be broadcast to all compatible wireless devices. The object of the calls is to give life-saving information. There were so many trial runs that some folks disabled the facility, tired of getting blaring messages in Walmart or Costco or worse, while driving their car. So it is hard to understand why no alarm was sounded that there was a killer on the loose.
The question has been raised, but not yet answered as to why no warning was given over the system? The Premier of Nova Scotia said the EMO (Provincial Emergency Management Office) contacted the RCMP a number of times about issuing an emergency alert. By the time the RCMP killed the gunman the Police were still deliberating on the wording of a Red Alert Emergency notification. Not too difficult!
I have had a long relationship with the 'Mounties' described elsewhere. It shocked and disappointed me that the renowned RCMP that built a world reputation for efficiency has not as of this writing offered an explanation and perhaps apology for this glaring omission. Surely the first action should have been obvious. To use the very system that had been devised for delivering immediate warning of life-threatening situations to the public. Surely this must be obvious to everyone.
I am waiting for a plausible explanation as to why it wasn't obvious to the RCMP and the Provincial Emergency Management Office and to be informed what measures have been taken to avoid it happening in the future. Let's hope it come quickly.