(Quebec) The Legault government wants to create an “emergency response reserve” to be able to support the authorities in the event of a natural disaster. The quantity of employees hired and the budget will be determined in the coming months.
“We are going to create an emergency response reserve to be able to support [avec] SOPFEU and the Red Cross to support municipalities in the event of major disasters. For us, it will be important to have a reserve that will support the municipalities,” said the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, during the presentation of his bill on civil security on Wednesday.
Mr. Bonnardel clarified that it was not a question of a “Quebec” reserve, or a “national” reserve: these men and women, trained by the State, would be employed by the Cross. -Rouge or the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU), non-profit organizations.
The objective, he said, is not to “put aside the work that the Canadian Armed Forces do”, but to have additional arms when natural disasters strike Quebec, such as forest fires. or floods for example.
Extraordinary powers
The bill tabled by Minister of Public Security François Bonnardel also gives the government “extraordinary powers” which are similar to those given by the state of health emergency.
It allows:
- It is up to a local municipality to declare a local state of emergency on its territory, for a maximum period of 10 days, when a disaster occurs or is imminent and it considers it necessary to resort to certain extraordinary powers.
- It is up to the government to declare a national state of emergency in all or part of the territory, for a maximum period of 10 days, when a disaster or other event disrupting the functioning of the community to the point of compromising the safety of people occurs or is imminent and which he considers necessary to resort to extraordinary powers.
The bill determines the other rules surrounding the national state of emergency, including those relating to its renewal and its end, as well as accountability. “The state of emergency comes into force as soon as it is declared and is maintained as long as it is renewed. The declaration of a state of emergency specifies the nature of the disaster, the territory concerned and the duration of the state of emergency,” specifies the legislative document.
These powers allow you to:
- Control access to traffic routes or the territory concerned or subject them to specific rules;
- Order, when there is no other means of protection, the evacuation of people or their sheltering, including their confinement;
- Request the services of any person able to assist the deployed personnel;
- Requisition in its territory the necessary emergency means and private accommodation;
- Grant, for the time it deems necessary for the rapid and effective execution of intervention measures, authorizations or exemptions in areas falling within the jurisdiction of the municipality;
- Make the expenses and conclude the contracts that it deems necessary.
Prohibit driving in the forest
If this bill is adopted, the Minister of Public Security François Bonnardel will obtain the power to designate a forest fire protection organization and expands the responsibility of this organization to the protection of communities and strategic infrastructures. Currently, the Forest Protection Company against Fire is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“It grants the Minister the power to order any measure to ensure public safety when a forest fire or the risk of such a fire requires it, in particular restricting or prohibiting movement in the forest as well as access to it and prohibit making fires in the territory it determines,” the bill also specifies.
Minister Bonnardel also wants to simplify the implementation of “general or specific financial assistance or compensation programs”, in the event of disasters, “in particular for measures to be taken due to the imminence of a disaster or for assistance in recovering after a disaster.