IAFF Canada Legislative Update

January, 2009

In late 2008 and early 2009 the IAFF has been following unprecedented political drama at the federal level, including the federal election Oct. 14, and seven weeks later, the dramatic attempt by the opposition parties to form a coalition and bring down the minority Conservative government.

The IAFF has monitored these events closely and responded to the questions and concerns of Canadian affiliates, while preparing to ensure that fire fighter issues will be front and centre during the 40th Session of Parliament, and leading up to the 16th Canadian Legislative Conference in spring 2009.

In the Oct. 14 election, Canada’s Conservative minority government, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was returned to power with a nominal increase in seats. Among successful election candidates was Glen Pearson, a former London, Ont. fire fighter and member of IAFF Local 142. Pearson, who sits as a Liberal Party MP, was first elected to the House of Commons representing London North-Centre in a by-election in November, 2006.

The New Democratic Party, a perennial ally of the IAFF, gained seven seats in the House of Commons and now fields 37 members of parliament. Led by Jack Layton, the NDP has been a consistently strong supporter of the IAFF’s Canadian Legislative Agenda and its members have introduced numerous pieces of fire fighter legislation in the past decade.

In advance of the election, each Canadian affiliate received an electronic copy of the IAFF Canada 2008 Federal Election Strategy, which included useful information about political action initiatives, such as candidate endorsement, locally during the election campaign.

In keeping with the IAFF’s bipartisan philosophy, local affiliates were welcome to locally endorse candidates from any political party, as long as they were certain the candidate was committed to looking closely at the IAFF’s Canadian Legislative Agenda if elected and supporting IAFF issues in the House of Commons.

Countless IAFF locals across Canada were indeed politically active during the federal election campaign, mainly by identifying, endorsing and working for fire fighter-friendly candidates.

The IAFF is prepared to work with members of parliament from all parties in order to advance the Canadian Legislative Agenda, and the minority status of the government won’t stand in the way of legislative progress. In 2007, under the previous Conservative minority government, $1 million in finding for the IAFF’s Hazardous Materials and CBRN Response Training programs in Canada was announced, an amount subsequently raised to $2.5 million over five years.

The IAFF responded to the opposition parties’ attempt to topple the minority Conservative government with a message to stay loyal to the nonpartisan philosophy that is the cornerstone of its successful political action programs in both Canada and the United States.

It was early December when the news broke that the Liberals and the New Democrats had forged an agreement to form a coalition and use their numbers to vote down the minority Conservative government over dissatisfaction with the way they were handling the economic crisis and other matters. Parliament was subsequently prorogued and returned for a new session on Jan. 26.

The crisis affects individual IAFF affiliates in Canada, who follow federal politics closely due to their involvement in the Canadian Legislative Program. Some locals have asked if the IAFF supports the coalition or if the IAFF supports maintaining the current minority Conservative government.

In a message sent to all of the IAFF’s Canadian affiliate leadership Dec.10, IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger announced that the IAFF will not be siding with either, reinforcing the IAFF’s nonpartisan philosophy and advising that affiliates, working in coordination with the IAFF Canadian Office, can determine who they support locally based on local support for our union and our profession.

“Our success in politics and in the legislative arena is built on our bedrock principle that we support those who support us, regardless of political party. We have built a reputation of being true to that philosophy,” Schaitberger told Canadian affiliates. “In the midst of the biggest turmoil Canada has seen in recent memory, we will not abandon that principle.”

The IAFF’s 16th Canadian Legislative Conference is still scheduled to take place in the spring of 2009. The exact dates for the conference will be finalized as soon as the parliamentary calendar for 2009 is known, and the Canadian Office will immediately notify all Canadian affiliates.

The need for a national Public Safety Officer Compensation (PSOC) benefit for the families of fallen fire fighters remains atop the IAFF’s Canadian Legislative Agenda in 2009, along the need for national fire service statistics and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) reform for professional fire fighters.

In addition to these issues, the IAFF is also asking the federal government to establish third-party investigations of all fire fighter line of duty deaths. It is also expected that problems with the National Building Code which have emerged in recent months will be brought to the federal level by the IAFF.

Update: IAFF Canada Haz-Mat-CBRN Training Initiative

A historic event took place in October when 10 Canadian Hazardous Materials Instructors were taught the IAFF’s Hazardous Materials Training for First Responders curriculum including Train-the-Trainer component.

The training session, held during the third week of October in Ottawa, was possible because of a major political action victory scored by the IAFF in 2007, when after six years of lobbying by the IAFF, the Canadian Government announced $1 million in funding for the IAFF’s Haz-Mat and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response training sessions in Canada over two years. The amount was recently increased to $2.5 million over five years.

The Canadian Master Instructors were selected through a rigorous application process. For the session held in Ottawa, each was paired with a seasoned IAFF Master Instructor from the U.S., where the IAFF programs have been used to successfully train tens of thousands of first responders.

The Canadian Instructors also attended the IAFF’s Instructor Development Conference in mid-November in Charleston, SC.

Another important advance for the program came on Dec. 2, when the IAFF secured the signature of Donald Warden, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), on a joint IAFF-CAFC letter endorsing the program. The letter, designed to show municipalities and other stakeholders that the program has wide support, was forwarded to all Canadian affiliates for their information and back to the CAFC for use at their discretion.

Through the IAFF Canadian Haz-Mat-CBRN Training Initiative, as it’s known, the IAFF is training the Canadian Master Instructors to teach the IAFF curricula. Once trained, they will have the ability to deliver the IAFF Haz-mat and CBRN response training programs to other first responders, including fire fighters, police officers and paramedics, in areas of Canada where the need exists. The training will be free to municipalities, thanks to the federal government funding.

The IAFF program is designed to complement existing Canadian government training initiatives, which are delivered through a central location, the Canada Emergency Management College in Ottawa.

The IAFF expects to be able to identify locations for training sessions across Canada in the near future. Canadian local affiliates will be notified when opportunities for training exist, and the IAFF is also working with other fire service stakeholders including the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs to raise awareness about the program and identify candidate training locations.

A survey of Canadian IAFF locals in 2005 showed that while some Canadian cities have good CBRN and Haz-mat response teams in place, a majority have little or no capability to respond, leaving millions of Canadian vulnerable to the aftermath of a CBRN incident, whether it’s an act of terrorism or it’s caused by a natural disaster or industrial accident.

The legislative victory that secured the Canadian government funding for the program was the third in Canada since 2003, and once again demonstrated the effectiveness of the IAFF political action.

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