The provincial government was boasting last week new legislation will give volunteer firefighters the same compensation protection it gave professional firefighters in 2007.
But Wellington-Halton Hill MPP Ted Arnott was unsure whether to smile or scratch his head about the developments.
He has been in the forefront of volunteer firefighter issues for several years, and the government that just passed the bill giving them benefits voted against virtually the same bill this spring.
The new law will make it easier for the province’s volunteer and part-time firefighters and fire investigators, who suffer fire-related illnesses, to qualify for benefits under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
The province established a new regulation that presumes that eight types of cancer – as well as heart injuries suffered within 24 hours of fighting a fire or from a training exercise – that are suffered by volunteer firefighters, are work related, unless proven otherwise.
The regulation will apply to volunteer and part-time firefighters and fire investigators from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal who meet certain conditions and to diseases diagnosed or heart injuries sustained on or after Jan. 1, 1960.
Arnott said when the government approved the protection for full time firefighters in 2007, just before a provincial election, there was an outcry that volunteers should also have that protection – so the government promised during the campaign that it would provide it.
Arnott said since then, coverage for volunteers has been denied, and there was one case where a volunteer had suffered a heart attack and eventually died, with no compensation for his family.
Arnott said he received the volunteer firefighters’ magazine four times a year, and he read a couple the association was trying without success to get a meeting with the Minister of Labour to obtain coverage equal to professional firefighters. He phoned association president Dave Thompson and learned that he had been unsuccessful in even arranging a meeting with the minister, despite that campaign promise.
Arnott said if citizens cannot obtain something necessary from the government it becomes, in his mind, something that an opposition MPP or even party should support. So, he introduced a private members bill to provide coverage the government was denying.
The government used its majority in May to defeat that bill’s second reading, with the excuse that it wanted to pass its own law. Arnott said normally the second reading of a bill is to accept it in principle, while there might be some additional clauses added or deleted.
“I thought the government would support its own promise,” he said. “They said the bill was unnecessary because they were doing it – so they actually defeated it. They just didn’t want to give the opposition any quarter on a bill like this.”
He noted the announcement took place in Paris, rather than the legislature, the normal place for important announcements.
Arnott said he was heartened by the support of municipal governments, which provided support for his bill. He noted Centre Wellington and Wellington North Township councils were particularly quick off the mark to support the volunteers.
Minister of Labour Peter Fonseca said in a press release, "We are committed to ensuring fair treatment for all injured workers. Firefighters place their lives on the line every day to save our homes, our businesses and our lives. This regulation ensures that Ontario’s workplace insurance system treats all firefighters and their families fairly, especially during a difficult time."
Ontario has 11,000 full-time firefighters, 19,000 volunteer firefighters, and 220 part-time firefighters.
