Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I promise to keep it short.
My question today is to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Right now at the local level we have a lot of volunteers that participate quite graciously in the fire department. I just wanted to ask the Minister, can he comment further on the assessment of community fire services. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the office of the assistant fire marshal in each region, we’re working with community fire departments to identify training and anything else they may need. I believe that work has been done and we are just waiting to hear. Once shortcomings are identified, we will work with the communities and try and get them trained up, or work with them in identifying potential pieces of equipment they may need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. I understand that there’s an Emergency Management Training Strategy in place. It’s in the development stages. Most of the training that local fire departments receive is defensive for dwelling structures or home structures.
What are some of the results that have been achieved through the department’s Emergency Management Training Strategy? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things we heard from NWTAC and a lot of the communities that are on the highway system, is their lack of capacity to respond to accidents that might be outside the town. We have $200,000 that was earmarked for ground ambulance and highway service rescue. We have decided that we’re going to allocate some of that for training. So we’ll have a lot of people in communities that are trained to be first responders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, what is the status of the ground ambulance and highway rescue services funding review? This has been going on for some time there. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we had identified $200,000 in the past for ground ambulance and highway services. We had some communities take us up on that money. Once they realized there is a huge liability without the proper training, they kind of backed off a bit.
We are looking at the overall picture. There is a departmental advisory committee that’s looking at it right now, and we’re waiting to see what they come back with, what some of their recommendations might be. So we are looking forward to that. Once we get that, we’ll be able to share it with the Members. We will share it with NWTAC, and look forward to ensuring that our folks in the front lines are trained as proper first responders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The summer travel season, especially for tourist travellers, is coming up here fairly soon. When can this House expect to see the results of this review that the Minister is referring to? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, it is an ongoing review. I will contact those that are involved, and see where they’re at, and see if there are any preliminary findings that I can share with the Members. I will be sure to give that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
