Double Hatters Article

Small communities across Ontario are once again threatened by the actions of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association. Until recently the firefighters’ union did not actively oppose their members who worked on a part-time basis in their home communities.

As rural communities, we cannot afford to maintain fire services at the same level as larger communities, and we rely upon the professional firefighters from nearby cities to add their skill and expertise to our own full-time and volunteer firefighter services.

We, in Kawartha Lakes are very familiar with the problem, as the last firefighter to have internal union charges laid against him was Tim Lee, a member of the Whitby Local who volunteered with the Kawartha Lakes fire department. We continue to lose double hatter firefighters from our communities.

In the wake of their June 2004 Provincial Convention, Firefighter Locals are again pressuring their members to give up their volunteer service in their home communities.

Local councils across Haliburton-Victoria-Brock have responded to this action by passing resolutions in support of protecting the employment of volunteer firefighters.

I am shocked that the Firefighters Union would ignore the important role that volunteers play in the fire departments in rural communities. The union would prefer that the volunteer firefighters be replaced by full-time professionals, but the cost to smaller municipalities is prohibitive.

In March, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Monte Kwinter was asked to address this public safety concern. The minister said he had met with the professional firefighters association and told them he wanted to send the entire matter to mediation. He further committed to introducing legislation to solve the crisis if the firefighters union refused mediation.

Seventy-seven days passed and nothing happened. This inaction led my Progressive Conservative colleague Ted Arnott (MPP, Waterloo-Wellington) to revisit this issue before the House recessed in June. We were all astonished as we watched the community safety minister change his tune and abandon these firefighters.

Last week, in question period, I asked Minister Kwinter, if he would support the right of “double hatter” firefighters to volunteer in the communities where they live.

“Double Hatter firefighters are some of my community’s most dedicated volunteers,” They are protecting their communities, and bringing needed firefighting expertise to largely volunteer fire services.”

Ted Arnott then held up a recent headline from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record stating “Fire Marshal Sides With Double Hatters”. He asked the Minister: “When will the Government listen to the Fire Marshal, the volunteers themselves, the chiefs association, AMO, 165 municipal councils, and even the Minister of Community Safety, and take action to protect our small town and rural communities?”

Minister Kwinter still will not stand up to protect our volunteer firefighters. He has ignored this problem for too long. Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals cannot continue to turn their backs on our volunteer firefighters and they cannot be allowed to recklessly abandon public safety.

I will continue to work with my caucus colleagues to force the government to back our firefighters and to support their right to volunteer in their hometowns.