Yes, I think that's absolutely needed, especially as it speaks to what we understand “capacity” to be. In my view, that is exactly why we call in the armed forces, because they are a reliable tool for the government.
If we define “capacity” as hired short-term contracts, for example, like those often used in the pandemic—and health system as well—how do we guarantee that capacity is available next time? Is it just because they have a name on a list? That's not the same thing. When we think about capacity, we should think about what is readily available. That comes at a cost. That is, in my view, why we don't have it at the local level. Even though the local level is the jurisdiction dealing with emergencies first, there is nothing it can afford beyond emergencies, which are the events that stress the system to the point where other help is needed. Even though we have emergency management capability across the provinces.... I like to describe emergency managers as general contractors. They're not the ones actually clearing the debris, fixing the infrastructure or providing power. They are the ones managing the incident, and they need tools to do that efficiently.
I would like the committee to explore what capacity exists at the provincial level that could be used in a local emergency. I'd like to talk about the disaster or catastrophe, because, if we confuse the scale, it adds to some of these things being so unclear.