The 17th Annual IAFF Canadian Legislative Lobby was held in Ottawa April 25-28 2010.  Four delegates were sent to lobby our local MP's on firefighter issues.  Delegates met with MP Kelly Block, MP Brad Trost, and The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, and MP.  The issues were well recieved by the MP's and now it's up to them to introduce new legislation that moves our issues forward.  Some of the issues we were lobbying were:

Public Safety Officer Compensation Benefit (PSOC)
Establishing a National Office for Fire Service
Proiority Access to Vaccines and Antivirals during Pandemic
National Building Code to include Firefighter Safety
Need for third Party Investigations of Firefighters Line of Duty Deaths

You can ask your executive members if you would like to know more information on these issues.  In recent years from efforts IAFF Canadian Legislative Lobbying the government, the firefighters were able to attain a 2.5 Million Dollar grant from the gov't for the need of a national Hazourdous Material Training course needed for first responders across Canada.  This was a huge achievment for the IAFF and we look forward to similar aid and legislation to benefit our members!