Given the changing climate…

Given the changing climate and its impact on forests and wildland fires I fully support Modernizing Wildland Fire Management in Ontario. Couple comments below:

Regarding the section of development of a standard set of terms and conditions when privately owned equipment & operators are hired. 1) Providing for increased written clarity up front is absolutely necessary. 2) Specifically, the process must clearly identify how equipment insurance and WSIB will work in the event equipment/worker are damaged/injured while performing work on behalf of the MNR. MNR cannot expect the operator and/or machine owner to be impacted financially should anything happen while being hired by MNR. MNR must specify in writing how the process works in the event something happens to the equipment or operator. Equipment owners and/or operators could then make an informed decision on whether or not to make themselves or their equipment available.

Regarding additional penalties/liabilities to persons or corporations. Although I generally support keeping individuals/companies liable for their actions, it will be important for MNR to provide for improved access to training and awareness material to ensure the requirements are clear and well understood. In recent years our company has tried reaching out to MNR fire staff on more than one occasion in hopes they would be able to help us provide higher quality training to our staff/workforce and we have been told each time they had no one available. A combination of improved training and awareness resources supported/led by MNR in conjunction with holding persons/corporations accountable for their actions would be the best way to proceed.

Given the short timeframe between the July 11 letter, this ERO notice and the single in-person session in SSM on July 30, it is critical that MNR provides additional opportunity for stakeholder input. Two or more virtual sessions for industry, with sufficient notice, should be the bare minimum in this case. The notice for these virtual sessions must include a wider distribution list than the one used for the July 11 letter - MNR has other distribution lists that could be used to cast a wider net and ensure broader input from industry stakeholders.

Any changes resulting from this process must be well informed and include a process to sufficiently evaluating the pros and cons of each change while also developing mitigation strategies for possible negative impacts to affected parties.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.