The above photo is the BC contingent that attended the 2009 IAFF Legislative Conference.
2009 IAFF Legislative Conference
On the week of April 27, 2009, Ed and Cory travelled to Ottawa for the IAFF Canadian Legislative Conference. There were lobby issues discussed to bring forward to our MPs. They are as follows:
1. PSOC Benefits for Fallen Firefighters Families. This is around the families of all fallen safety officers receiving a benefit from the govt. if a member dies in the line of duty. Currently, in the US, a family would receive $317,000, The motion has been passed in the house, we are now trying to push for implimentation of it.
2. National Statistics. Currently, we have no source of national statistics being collected if we have any major incidents. This office would collect the data, formulate it and send it out to all departments for training as well as health and safety reasons.
3. Enhanced CPP for Firefighters. This would allow the arly retirement for firefighters (55) to have an unreduced pension. Currently, if you retire at 55 you would receive approx 65% of your pre-retirement earnings, where you will receive 70% if retiring at 60. We would like to see the 70% at 55.
4. Firefighter Safety as a core requirement in the National Building Code. We currently are not a prioriy in the building code. We would like to become a priority and be thought of when the new code comes out in 2010. With us here in Richmond, and the approval of 6 storey, light construction, this is in the forefront. Not only are we not prepared with our equipment (a proper ladder truck) the politicians have to realize the risk of us going into one of these buildings if it is on fire. And remember, not just the building risk, we also have the risks of the off gassing of these products, the carcinogens in the air and the risk of cancer associated with it.
5. Third party Investigations on Firefighter deaths. We would like to see a national agency, like NIOSH in the US, do investigate firefighter deaths. There currently is no office to do this, but the push is to find out options on how it could be done.
We met with Alice Wong and John Cummins while we were in Ottawa. Both meetings were quite successful, and both Alice and John were in favor of our lobby points. A few points were brought up around pension and the fact that with the economic state where it is it may be a tough sell, and we appreciate that. Unfortunately, there are people that are in risk of losing their pension, and we do not want to see that happen to anyone. As for the PSOC benefit, both were extremely in favor, and John has already sent a letter to the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Human Resources to try and help it along!! Thanks, John, we appreciate it!
If anyone has any more questions on the conference and our lobby efforts, please do not hesitate to contact Ed or Cory.
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