The government announced today it is merging the offices of Emergency Management Ontario and the Office of the Fire Marshall.
The new merged office will be called Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management and will be located in the new Forensic Services and Coroner's Complex. (QP Briefing reported on the new Forensic Services complex <a href="https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/368050409975185410/photo/1" target="_blank">earlier this summer</a>.)
One person who will not be part of the new merged office is former assistant deputy minister and Chief of Emergency Management Ontario Allison J. Stuart, a fact confirmed by ministry spokesperson Andrew Morrison. Community safety ministry staff did not initially inform QP Briefing of Stuart's departure despite requests to interview her. An automatic email generated from her office account says she is no longer with the Ontario Public Service.
"I can confirm she is no longer with the OPS as a result of the restructuring," Morrison told QP Briefing this afternoon. "It's a personnel matter, an HR matter, so that's as far as we can say."
The province's Commissioner of Community Safety Dan Hefkey says the move to merge the two offices came after the Drummond Report in 2012, and more immediately because of $2 million cut from his department in the 2013 budget. He's asked for staff cooperation as the new merged entity moves forward.
"I said to my staff this morning, they may have a sense of dread and a sense of anxiety. It's okay to talk that out, but once that's done I need you to look at this organization," Hefkey says.
The offices of Emergency Management Ontario and the Fire Marshall's office are not obvious candidates for a merger, despite their common ground as emergency responders. While EMO responds to natural disasters such as floods or forest fires, the fire marshall investigates arson and large explosions such as the Sunrise Propane explosion in 2010. Hefkey says one example of common ground the two offices share is public education and emergency planning.
"Messaging and the work that goes into one or the other, I believe, is complementary," said Hefkey. For example, EMO informs Ontarians <a href="http://www.emergencymanagementontario.ca/english/beprepared/beprepared.html">how to prepare for disasters</a> while the marshall's office <a href="http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/FireMarshal/FireSafetyandPublicEducation/PublicFireSafetyInformation/OFM_pub_info.html">gives advice on fire safety</a>.
Progressive Conservative community safety critic John Yakabuski says it's too early to say one way or another whether the merger will be a good thing.
"So far all we have is a government press release, that's basically propaganda," said Yakabuski. "They say it won't effect front-line service, but they always say that. The devil's in the details."
Yakabuski says he'll be looking for more information on the merger, including potentially a briefing from the ministry.

EMO, Fire Marshall offices merged–without the EMO chief

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