Thankyou for for the…

Thankyou for for the opportunity to provide feedback to your proposal. I fully understand your reason for wanting to have an emergency plan for the operation of water and wastewater plants across Ontario. What I believe is missing in this proposal is an adequate definition of an emergency. When researching some "emergency" concerns of water treatment facilities in Ontario it is very easy to see true emergency situations that both the Ontario and Canadian governments have not dealt with in Indigenous communities for decades. In many cases I found over and over again some of these communities fighting for years for the right to clean drinking water. I might ask yourself to google "emergency water treatment issues in Indigenous communities in Ontario". These are true emergency's. Yet this ministry decides to incorporate a strike or lockout as an emergency and mentions nothing about the emergency situations for the First Nations. I understand the First Nations is a federal issue, but this is an Ontario emergency.
Further, a strike or lock out should never happen in this industry. A firefighter is deemed essential, yet a water/wastewater operator is not. ??? If it's so important make us essential. Problem most likely averted, or possibly down graded. If water and waste water operators are falling ill due to a pandemic, most likely engineers, maintenance or technical support will be also. Extending an already employed operators license for up to a year makes sense. I believe once you open the opportunity for a community to bring in unlicensed operators it will be the start of more and more headaches for more Ontario ministry's. In one case I read of in Northern Ontario, a driver is trucking in large truck loads of water many times a week to a community. What if truck drivers fall ill or strike? Do we allow non licensed people to drive large trucks on our highways? Might I remind you they also carry some very dangerous chemicals to our plants. The licensing and testing for water/ wastewater operators was brought in to solve problems and create safer outcomes for all Ontario communities.
Please rethink this proposal and focus on the true emergency's not labour unrest. Walkerton was caused partially by inexperienced/ licensed operators, not a strike.