Public Safety committee  It's a huge issue and always an issue at the provincial level, even down to the local level. In dealing with health issues, we have to be cognizant of protecting people's information, but at what cost to public safety? Ambulance services use separate and distinct communication

Public Safety committee  I would agree that your comment is a fair assessment, and I'm not talking constitutional anything, because that's not my bag. As the EMO director, what I'm interested in is how the emergency management system works. You can get a lot of well-intentioned activity--and this has ha

Public Safety committee  Yes, I'm not going to say whether they should or shouldn't be there. It's not my job to say whether they should be at the table. I'll just tell you the reality in Manitoba. There are 198 municipalities. We have emergency plans that we create with the municipalities in 198 munic

Public Safety committee  I can speak to that. There's an entity called the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which is an entity that actually resides in Winnipeg. It's funded by provinces and territories, and it coordinates resources throughout Canada. If P.E.I. needs water bombers, they make a re

Public Safety committee  I can respond to that. It is actually well developed and well understood at the provincial and federal level how the military is engaged. It is a one-stop shop through a PSEPC request. It is not a request from the province to the military directly; it goes through PSEPC. The prov

Public Safety committee  I'm not going to speak to the health system, because I'm not an expert on it, but when it comes to pandemics it's clear.... And that's why Bill C-12 is so important. With things like pandemics and terrorism, all levels of government are going to have to be in sync simultaneousl

Public Safety committee  It's a really good question, because there are existing MOUs, but I think, as you heard just now, it's spotty. There isn't consistency to them. Quebec and the maritime provinces have a wonderful MOU with the New England states, but trying to replicate that process with contiguous

Public Safety committee  Yes, we have agreements first with the military. We have access, and all we have to do is make a request through PSEPC to access military equipment. We have also created an urban search and rescue entity within the province, as have many other provinces and territories, that spe

Public Safety committee  I would say from our perspective it's certainly an improvement over what existed before. The proof will be in the pudding. No matter what legislation says sometimes, it's the will of an entity to actually take the reins and lead. So we're hoping that this legislation will give in

Public Safety committee  Well, the Red River floodway is the poster child of mitigation in Canada. There is a lot of mitigation activity that can take place that isn't quite that grandiose. In fact, we've been working at the federal-provincial-territorial level to try to create a national disaster mitiga

Public Safety committee  May I make a comment on that? It's a really interesting discussion that you're having, and it's focusing right now on one industry and a particular threat, basically. I would like to just say what I think this discussion is and how it relates to Bill C-12 and how it relates to a

Public Safety committee  It's a big issue for all provinces and territories, but I agree with Dr. Young. It is bottom-up. It starts with the individual, then goes to the municipal level. In all provinces and territories, the emphasis is always at the municipal emergency planning capacity level, so they a

Public Safety committee  I don't have specific recommendations for changes. I agree very much with Dr. Young that the proof will be in the pudding when we see the spirit of the way this bill flows into the psyche of emergency management folks in this country. You've heard the word “coordination” umpteen

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. Good morning, everyone--and hi, Jim. Jim Young and I have met each other on many occasions. Just to give you a little background, each province and territory has an emergency measures organization. That organization has the man

Public Safety committee  Yes, I can, thanks.