Goldie Ghamari - Question Period： Supporting Ontario's firefighters

00:00:00.000 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin, I just wanted to welcome to the Legislature

00:00:06.320 the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, and in particular Fire Chief Pascal Meunier from Carleton

00:00:11.360 Place, Fire Chief Ken Stevenson from Berks Falls and District, and Fire Chief Brian Wilson from

00:00:16.080 Clarence Rockland, who I look forward to meeting with later today. I also want to give a quick

00:00:20.080 shout out to Fire Chief Kim Ayotte from Ottawa, who couldn't be here today. Mr. Speaker, my question

00:00:24.880 today is for the Solicitor General. Protecting citizens is at the core of our government's

00:00:29.280 work for the people and the enforcement of modern and robust fire safety rules protects

00:00:34.160 the lives of citizens as well as our hard-working firefighters and mr speaker we know that fire

00:00:39.840 regulations are a key part of ensuring the safety of our communities these regulations aren't always

00:00:45.440 on top of mind for everyday citizens but they have a big impact on fire services ability to do their

00:00:50.960 job could the solicitor general please let us know how improving these regulations are making

00:00:56.480 firefighters and citizens safer.

00:01:02.000 Opposition come to order. Solicitor General.

00:01:05.040 Thank you and thank you for the member from Carleton for your important question but also

00:01:09.600 for serving on the caucus advisory team for Solicitor General. You know her advice is very

00:01:14.800 valuable so thank you. I would also like to welcome and thank the fire chiefs for joining us today at

00:01:22.400 at Queen's Park. It's an important advocacy that you need to do to educate us as MPPs,

00:01:28.300 so thank you. Your officers, the brave men and women on the front lines, keep our families

00:01:34.020 safe. As a government, we're committed to ensuring firefighters and regulations support

00:01:39.300 firefighters across Ontario. Whether you live in Kenora or Cambridge, Ottawa or Oxford,

00:01:44.580 I can assure you that the regulations that we put in place are going to be appropriate

00:01:48.940 for the communities that you serve, and we will continue to do that. As you know,

00:01:53.420 there are some new regulations coming forward in the early summer that will really make an impact

00:01:59.420 for the services as well as the communities that we serve. I want to assure you that we

00:02:04.140 will continue to make sure that those regulations are appropriate for the size and the service of

00:02:09.260 the community that you serve. Thank you. Supplementary question.

00:02:13.580 Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and through you, I would like to thank the Solicitor General

00:02:18.840 for her response.

00:02:20.220 It's truly an honour to serve on the caucus advisory committee and to work with our first

00:02:24.020 responders all across the province.

00:02:27.820 Mr. Speaker, firefighters have always stood up for the safety of communities, and now

00:02:31.740 that they have a government that respects and supports them as they carry out very difficult

00:02:36.200 and very dangerous jobs each and every day, we ask these brave men and women to potentially

00:02:40.840 put themselves in harm's way to keep our loved ones and our communities safe. In return,

00:02:46.260 we see it as only fair to support them in their important duties.

00:02:50.160 Through you, Mr. Speaker, could the Solicitor General please tell us more about how our

00:02:54.560 government is providing better support to firefighters across Ottawa and Ontario and

00:02:59.880 improving fire safety?

00:03:01.440 Thank you.

00:03:02.440 The Solicitor General.

00:03:03.440 As you know, our government values the important work that firefighters do as they place themselves

00:03:10.320 in harm's way. I want to also give a shout-out to the volunteer firefighters because they

00:03:17.460 also play a vital safety role in our small-time communities. It's frankly why we amended

00:03:25.780 the Fire Protection and Prevention Act this past fall to ensure that full-time firefighters

00:03:30.120 can volunteer their services, if they choose, in their home community. I would be remiss

00:03:35.580 not to highlight, Speaker, your work for many years in opposition on this issue and of course

00:03:41.100 my friend and colleague, the Minister of Labour, to bring forward this amendment. It makes a real

00:03:45.980 difference in our smaller communities, so thank you. These amendments protect firefighters and

00:03:50.700 municipalities from any pressure to dismiss professional firefighters from what is commonly

00:03:55.760 referred to as double-hatting. This will also ensure that professional firefighters cannot face

00:04:00.640 Association penalties for double-hatting and to allow municipalities to include them in their

00:04:05.760 service model. Our government is restoring respect for first responders and including

00:04:11.200 firefighters, and I want to thank them for their service.

Goldie Ghamari - May 02, 2019

Question Period： Supporting Ontario's firefighters

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