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QUEBEC — Quebec Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel desires to enhance catastrophe administration, after floods and forest fires brought about unprecedented injury final yr.
Bonnardel offered Invoice 50 on Wednesday geared toward “selling catastrophe resilience,” specifically by constituting an “emergency response reserve” able to supporting authorities within the occasion of a pure catastrophe.
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“The yr 2023 was immensely troublesome,” Bonnardel mentioned at a information briefing on the Nationwide Meeting. “The main floods in Baie-St-Paul, fires that lasted nearly eight weeks … it’s about having the ability to reply to that.”
The emergency response reserve can be made up of an as but undetermined variety of folks — for instance, volunteer firefighters — who can be paid. The minister didn’t wish to specify the quantities that may be allotted to this initiative.
The target, he mentioned, is to “have the ability to help SOPFEU and the Purple Cross … within the occasion of main disasters.” SOPFEU has round 250 staff skilled to battle fires.
If the invoice is adopted, the mission and duties of SOPFEU can be transferred to the Ministry of Public Safety, mentioned Bonnardel.
“We should perceive that the first mission of SOPFEU has all the time been to save lots of the forest,” he mentioned, “however with the occasions of latest years … this mission has advanced. An important level now for SOPFEU is to save lots of lives.”
Extraordinary powers
Invoice 50 would additionally grant the federal government “extraordinary powers” permitting it to declare a nationwide state of emergency, for a most interval of 10 days, when a catastrophe happens.
Bonnardel acknowledged that these powers can be just like these given in a state of well being emergency.
A municipality may additionally declare a state of emergency on its territory, for a most of 10 days, to order the evacuation of individuals or to conclude contracts that it deems obligatory, for instance.
“We realized that the state of emergency that needed to be renewed each 5 days was turning into ridiculous,” Bonnardel mentioned. In return, “what we’re going to ask of the municipalities … is to supply accountability to residents.”
Lastly, municipalities can be required to gather data regarding “danger turbines,” resembling harmful merchandise in a manufacturing unit, of their territories. Final summer season, the authorities have been “unwell knowledgeable,” Bonnardel mentioned.
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