165 Ontario municipalities support Double Hatter fire fighters
against union threats, MPP Ted Arnott tells Minister

City of Ottawa among those supporting Double Hatters
Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott told the Government during Question Period in the Ontario Legislature on October 26th that 165 Municipal Councils across the Province believe that Double Hatter fire fighters should be protected from union threats that force them to resign as volunteer fire fighters.

To illustrate the type of threats being used against Double-Hatters, he referred to a recent letter from a union president to a fire fighter in Stratford who volunteers for the Perth East Fire Department at the Shakespeare station.

“The letter demanded that this fire fighter resign as a volunteer fire fighter in three to six months and then threatened retaliatory consequences. I asked the Minister if he condones these heavy-handed tactics. His answer was evasive and completely unsatisfactory,” Mr. Arnott said later.

In his reply, Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter pointed back to the Private Member’s Bill that Mr. Arnott introduced in the Spring of 2002, suggesting that the former Government could have done something about it then.

In response to that statement, Mr. Arnott reminded the members that it was a free vote, and said that a full two-thirds of Conservative members present voted for his Bill at Third Reading.

“If this continues to be the government's position, then the right to volunteer in Ontario will be rendered void and meaningless, and public safety in our smaller communities and countryside will be diminished,” Mr. Arnott said speaking of the loss of Double-Hatters in the Legislature. “These skilled and trained volunteers who work to provide emergency protection to their neighbours will be removed as the union gradually eliminates the remaining double-hatters while the government sticks its collective head in the sand.”

In listing the municipalities that support protection for Double-Hatters, Mr. Arnott advised the House that they are from Conservative, Liberal-held and NDP ridings and include the County of Wellington, the Town of Halton Hills and the second largest city in Ontario, the City of Ottawa, which he noted is partly represented by the Premier.

He asked how the Government could dismiss the views of 165 municipal councils on an issue of public safety, and when would they express public support for his Bill 52 the Volunteer Fire Fighters Employment Protection Act, or introduce its own legislation.

Mr. Arnott has launched a province-wide petition and encourages people who want to protect the right to volunteer for double-hatters to visit his website at: www.tedarnottmpp.com to print off petitions and collect signatures. Original signed petitions should be delivered to the local MPP.