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This year’s prebudget submission is unlike any we have ever submitted. It echoes not only the recommendations we made last year, but also echoes the recommendations that the Standing Committee on Finance itself chose to include in its 2023 report. 

It is also further supported with a second year of data lending further evidence to obvious observation. It is written in the context of the worst fire season on record. The new data we are including in this brief comes from over 500 fire departments serving 22 M Canadians. This data was then used to extrapolate for the remaining departments, mostly very small rural departments who didn’t submit data. Most of the participating departments were fully aware that their data would be used for this and other federal submissions. We hope you will continue to take their testimony very seriously. 

Finally, we understand that coming to agreement in principle may be easier than finding funding for the recommendations. However, the past year has given this Government and the opposition the evidence and authority needed to take bold action. These are not luxury asks. They are essential investments in the safety and future of everyone in this country.

Recommendations

That the Federal Government:

1. Create a Canadian equivalent of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and the equivalent of a US Fire Administration.
2. Reinstate a modernized version of the former Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) for fire/emergency training and equipment, with net new monies.
3. Increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000 and modernize the CRA definition of volunteer firefighter to help retain firefighters.
4. Fund fire departments to spread and scale the FireSmart, Community Resilience Plans and Risk Assessments; and ensure strategic wildfire training and resource allocation.
5. Ensure that the current review of the explosive regulations (Chapter 16 fireworks) reverses proposals that compromise wildfire management efforts and public safety.
6. Make fire protection a protected service in every community and address Indigenous fire chiefs’ recommendations to improve fire and life safety.
7. Fund a national multi-media smoke alarm awareness campaign in collaboration with the CAFC and industry partners in Indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
8. Invest $2M in the existing CAFC database to unite fire/emergency services as national advisors.

We welcome and encourage members to share the brief with your federal MP, staff and partners. It is available in both official languages.

Please read our submission here. It has been submitted to the standing committee on finance.