New EMS Station in Halton

On Friday I was asked to speak in my role as Chair of health and Social Services at the opening of the new EMS station in Southeast Oakville. This new 3,000 sq ft station which came in on budget at 1.3 million is a testament of the commitment Halton region has made to our EMS service.

Believe it or not but Halton EMS has only been around since Aug 2000. Halton set up a service basically from scratch that had about 56 employees at its inception. It now had over 150 employees. All dedicated to our health, safety and well being.

Our EMS service also uses Advance Care Paramedics which provides our citizens with a added level of protection.

Since Halton took over our service has grown not only in employees but we have seen a renewal of our stations. As of the opening of the Georgetown Station, all the old stations have been replaced with the exception of our Burlington one, which was extensively overhauled.

Our EMS workers have been recognised for their work in Haiti, when they responded to the call of a fellow employee after the earthquake, and flew down within days with needed supplies. They took with them the hope of all of Halton for the safety and well being of every Haitian citizen. The most powerful presentation I have ever heard from any group was from our 12 EMS workers when they came to Council to tell us about their experience in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Some of them were off to other countries to assist within weeks of returning from Haiti.

Our EMS staff was instrumental in working with Council to make sure the pubic access defibrillator (PAD) program was a success. It only seems like a few years ago we saw the program as having difficulties in getting traction and Councillors pushed to get them into public buildings.
This year alone from Mid May to the end of Aug PAD machines were used on 7 people in Halton, 6 are still with us to tell the story of their survival.

At Health and Social Services 2 weeks ago we discussed the need to strengthen that program by looking at making sure we set up initiatives that look at CPR, but also Healthy active lifestyles.

Our EMS workers have a strong symbiotic relationship with Halton Region and the Staff. We recognise their hard work and dedication, and they recognise our desire to build a community we can all be safe in and have the highest quality of life.

To our EMS, Fire and Police workers who sometimes deal with people on the worst day of their lives, who run into danger as we run away, who are always working to keep us safe. I can only offer the following,

THANK YOU!

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

One of the great organisations I have had the honour of working with the last few years is FCM, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. FCM has been the national voice for Municipalities since 1901. It has around 1800 Municipal members from coast to coast to coast and represents over 90% of the population of Canada. While it is a national organisation, this is the logo from this years AGM in Toronto.


I was appointed by Halton Region Council to be their representative on FCM and have been elected to the Board of Directors in 2008. Prior to that I served on the committees I serve on the Ontario Caucus and a variety of other committees. I have received tremendous support from all the Councillors and the staff from Halton and Halton Hills.

One of the goals of FCM is to do advocacy work on behalf of municipalities with the Federal Government and its departments. Also we frequently appear before committees of the house of commons to present the municipal view on issues. The advocacy of FCM has led to Municipalities receiving full GST back, gas tax (which is around 2 million a year for Halton Hills). Also, FCM has the Green Municipal Fund which municipalities can apply for environmental initiatives.

On behalf of CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), FCM carries out a variety of International projects. Assisting emerging democracies with capacity building and establishing Municipal governments. FCM will have a role to play in Afghanistan and the reconstruction of Haiti.


Halton Region has been recognized as being one of the first, if not the first, Municipalities in Canada to have people on the ground. Ours was by the dedication of our 11 EMS workers who responded to a Halton Staff member’s plea for assistance from the mission he was working at. More can be found at the following link

http://www.fcm.ca//CMFiles/Crossroads%20Spring%202010%20En%20lres1LIC-692010-8371.pdf


FCM is also involved with the following areas of municipal interest:
Municipal Infrastructure
FCM Stimulus Monitoring Centre
Immigrant Settlement
Public Safety
Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Public Transit
Rural, Remote, and Northern Communities
Environment and sustainable development
Municipal Rights of Way
Municipal Finance
Policy Statements
Resolutions
Women in Government
Quality of Life Reporting System
ACT Program
Land Management Project
Annual Ottawa Advocacy days with MP’s from all parties

Last Year when the Town under Mayor Bonnette started the fight against US protectionism, FCM played a key role in getting the ball rolling. The staff at FCM quickly realised the potential downside to Canadian business from the US legislation and helped us craft a resolution for debate at the AGM. I will write another posting on the whole Buy American issue.

The issue spread around the world overnight with media attention from all the major world news papers. An issue started by a Halton Hills business, passed by our Council and supported across the country, then sent to Ottawa was now international news.

Though it took until February of this year to resolve, and it is still not done, the staff at FCM always kept us informed and part of the process. They always looked at it as Halton Hills resolution. They always made sure that we knew it was our resolution and they were working with us.

This year I assisted the Men4Women campaign and offered to have my head shaved to raise money for the scholarship for women FCM offers. We were able to raise over 3200 for the scholarship and Jane Fogal could not wait to get the clippers and help the cause!



The next few years will be challenging for municipalities. Both federal and provincial governments are fighting record deficits. We need to speak with that one collective voice to ensure any cuts are not on the backs of OUR Municipal taxpayers. I hope to continue working with FCM.

We speak loudest when we speak with the power of one voice.