New provincial legislation to manage emergencies meddles with regional programs that already work well, managers say.
Shaun Koopman is the Protective Services Coordinator for the Strathcona Regional District. He recently provided the board with his take on the new provincial rules and says other regional districts share the same view.
“I can guarantee you, we’re all telling the province to put their cuckoo back in the clock, and I think the public needs to see that as well,” he said at the district’s last regular board meeting. “I don’t want the province to dictate with an iron fist how we operate emergency services in the Strathcona Regional District.”
He points out a recent report from the BC Ombudsperson shows BC’s response to the 2021 wildfire season was poor, relying on outdated, under-resourced, inaccessible and poorly communicated emergency programs. He says if the province can’t manage its own programs, it has no business dictating how regional districts should manage theirs.
Koopman says the province should be offering support and advice for regional program managers, not trying to control how local programs operate.
The Strathcona Regional District sponsors emergency response teams in communities from Campbell River north to Tahsis and Zeballos.
