Goldie Ghamari - October 15, 2018


Question Period - Ontario's Public Safety Radio Network


Episode Stats


Length

3 minutes

Words per minute

137.31215

Word count

533

Sentence count

25


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.560 Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional
00:00:08.000 Services. Minister, with the recent tornadoes that affected many families throughout Ottawa region,
00:00:13.840 we've heard of the many difficulties faced by our dedicated emergency responders during their
00:00:18.720 response efforts. The communications infrastructure that our hard-working frontline
00:00:23.680 officers and emergency personnel rely upon to respond to emergency situations is in a terrible
00:00:29.280 state of disrepair. Speaker, through you, could the minister please explain to all members of
00:00:35.360 this Legislature what he is doing to ensure that Ontario's emergency communications infrastructure
00:00:41.040 is improved? Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
00:00:45.680 Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the member from Carleton for the question.
00:00:50.560 As you've heard today, our government has taken real action to address Ontario's crumbling
00:00:56.080 public safety radio network, a system relied upon by many of the province's frontline officers and
00:01:03.280 emergency responders. Replacing this outdated and ineffective radio network is critical to all
00:01:10.160 emergency services throughout the province. When Ottawa was shaken by the tragic tornadoes,
00:01:16.320 our hard-working and dedicated frontline officers and emergency responders were obstructed from
00:01:23.040 performing their duties safely and effectively due to the frequent outages that affected
00:01:29.340 the PSRN on a daily basis.
00:01:32.280 In an emergency situation, Mr. Speaker, regardless of where it is in the province, communication
00:01:37.360 between our frontline and emergency responders is a key component to ensuring public safety
00:01:43.720 and to also keep our emergency responders safe.
00:01:53.040 Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for his response.
00:01:56.700 It's reassuring to know that our government for the people, under Premier Ford's leadership,
00:02:01.060 is taking the necessary steps to ensure that public safety is enhanced and restored throughout the province.
00:02:07.060 Our hard-working and dedicated frontline officers and emergency personnel deserve to have the tools they need to keep all of Ontario's communities safe.
00:02:15.860 Minister, as you know, frontline officers and emergency personnel throughout the province rely upon Ontario's public safety radio network.
00:02:25.140 There has been constant concern over smaller, rural and northern communities like Richmond, Metcalf and Osgoode
00:02:30.680 when it comes to having the necessary tools and resources to perform their duties safely and effectively.
00:02:36.780 To the Minister, could you please explain how modernizing the public safety radio network will help those living in smaller, rural and northern communities?
00:02:44.900 in my riding of Carleton and across this great province.
00:02:49.260 Thank you for that very good question.
00:02:53.780 Let me start off by saying that the Ontario Public Safety Radio Network
00:02:58.300 is relied upon by more than 38,000 emergency responders throughout the province.
00:03:04.180 It is the largest, most complex net in all of North America,
00:03:09.180 but it was one of the last ones that has been left to comply with the P25 standard in North America.
00:03:17.020 This modernization project will ensure that there are more than 38,000 frontline officers and first responders,
00:03:23.460 including OPP officers, paramedics, hospital staff, fire services, provincial highway maintenance staff,
00:03:30.580 and even the province's conservation officers can count on communications infrastructure,
00:03:35.580 infrastructure, network and equipment they need when they respond to emergencies.
00:03:41.860 This project will assist our hard-working frontline officers and emergency responders
00:03:46.560 throughout the province becoming better equipped to keep our communities and families and businesses
00:03:52.300 safe.