Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for the question.
Remarkably, in this area historically there's been a great deal of jurisdictional jealousy. Of all areas where one might hope not to have that, this would be the one. Surely after 9/11.... I listened to a very senior federal official give a speech to a very small group, about twelve of us, on post-9/11 and what it meant for us. You know, there was not a reference whatsoever about anything to do with first response of municipal government. And I was rather shocked. I would have thought....
I can tell you that since then there is a growing and formal engagement--more discussion than before, some involvement, but still at the margins. We think there would be an opportunity to enhance that. There is a group called the senior officials responsible for emergency preparedness that meets from time to time. It would seem reasonable that there be some municipal presence on that--again, informal. It's not that we want to run this thing or that we don't respect provincial jurisdiction--we do. But for purposes of coordination this might be valuable.
I should note that our organization embraces all of the provincial and territorial municipal associations, so we can bring in that dimension of the provincial interest as well, through those organizations. I think that might be a step in the right direction.
I've already mentioned, of course, the preamble that this might assure officials that they won't lose their jobs if they talk to local governments. There is a perception there that this would be a very negative thing to do.
Those are a couple of thoughts that I'll leave with you.