SPEAKING NOTES

FOR

THE HONOURABLE ROY CULLEN

PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY

TO THE

MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

FOR PRESENTATION AT THE

1^ST ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE

CANADIAN RISK AND HAZARDS NETWORK (CHRNet)

“REDUCING RISKS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS”

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

NOVEMBER 18, 2004

Check Against Delivery

(Acknowledgements of provincial officials, co-chairs Dr. Emdad Haque, David Etkin, and Don Brennan)

Thank you for your kind introduction and warm words of welcome.  I would like to extend my own welcome to Canada to our international visitors.  And to express best wishes to everyone here on behalf of the Honourable Anne McLellan, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. 

I want to begin by talking about the work Minister McLellan and I are engaged in that relates directly to the topics under discussion at this symposium.  Before I do that, I want to first thank members of the National Steering Committee and Local Planning Committee who worked so hard to make the Canadian Risk and Hazards Network (CRHNet) a reality.  Congratulations to all of you involved in this network.  You not only recognized, but acted on, the need to develop a national vehicle dedicated to preventing and mitigating the impacts of disasters.  

I am here today to say thank you, and to encourage you in the important work you are doing.

You have done a tremendous public service, to Canadians and our global neighbours, by creating a forum for the hazards research community and emergency management practitioners to share their knowledge and best practices.  Bringing eminent experts together with front-line responders creates new synergies and new opportunities to strengthen disaster risk reduction and emergency management.

The last decade has underlined the need for these innovative partnerships.  There’s hardly a corner of our country that has not been touched by ice storms, floods, forest fires, landslides, tornadoes and even hurricanes.  You need only turn on the daily news to know there are similar stories on every continent on the globe.

The Government of Canada is keen to lend its support to this first-ever Canadian hazards and risks symposium because its objectives so closely mirror the federal commitment to public safety and emergency preparedness.  And because your work so closely parallels many of the activities of Canada’s new Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness portfolio. It is especially well aligned with our Partnership Strategy and objectives for a National Disaster Mitigation Strategy. 

As many of you may be aware, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada continues to advance the National Disaster Mitigation Strategy towards the goal of  protecting lives and maintaining resilient, sustainable communities by fostering disaster risk reduction as a way of life.  The Strategy aims to save lives, limit property damage, protect economic assets, reduce emergency response and recovery costs and plan well ahead for emerging threats through partnership initiatives in support of safe and secure communities. The National Disaster Mitigation Strategy would be a catalyst to establish national mitigation priorities to identify where potential new investments would bring the greatest benefit – the beneficiaries would include provinces and territories, businesses and citizens, through, for example, reduced rates for property and casualty insurance.

We share your belief in encouraging all levels of government, academia, the private sector and the public to focus more attention on protecting our communities by preventing disasters before they happen. We see the positive cost/benefit of effective disaster mitigation strategies.  And we agree on the need for a more cohesive approach to all aspects of emergency planning and implementation.

This was the reasoning behind the formation of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.  The Bill to formally create the new Department was passed by the House of Commons yesterday and is now off to the Senate for their consideration. The creation of PSEPC was a strategic decision to better coordinate our line of attack against emerging threats.  The portfolio integrates all the key agencies with a role to play in planning for, and responding to, the consequences of all emergencies having a national impact, regardless of their cause. 

Aside from working more effectively within the federal government, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada’s streamlined structure means we can work more productively with our partners – the provinces and territories, municipalities, the private sector, the research community, non-governmental organizations and our colleagues around the world. 

While a lot of media attention has been paid to the security side of the portfolio, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada is much more than a security-oriented organization.  A major part of the federal focus is on enhancing emergency management capacity and coordination, disaster financial assistance, research, as well as legislation, policy and program development.  Because everyone here knows that emergencies come in all shapes and forms.  They can be caused as often, if not more often, by the forces of nature as an attack by a terrorist. 

No matter what the cause– whether, for example, the electricity supply is disrupted by a tornado, a blizzard, a mechanical malfunction, a computer hacker or terrorist attack – we have to be prepared to deal with both the social and economic impacts of any and all hazards.

As crucial as it is to have the right people, in the right place, ready to respond if disaster strikes, we also have to limit loss of life, property damage and other costs by taking measures to reduce risk in the pre-disaster period to the fullest extent possible, but also in the post-disaster recovery period. 

I came from the business world, prior to entering politics, so I’m very sensitive to this issue – as is the Minister.  The most destructive wildfire in Canadian history, in British Columbia in 2003, reinforced that, as devastating as the fires themselves were, the potentially equally serious threat of floods and landslides loomed in their wake.  Minister McLellan recently acknowledged in Kelowna that we have to consider new approaches to ensure one disaster doesn’t lead to another.

Canada’s new National Security Policy further underscores that  we have to be prepared to address anything that could disrupt the economy or put the health and safety of people at risk.  The Policy recognizes that we need a more balanced focus on all aspects of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery to enhance Canada’s capacity to deal effectively with all disasters – whether an act of God, an accident or a malicious act.  It provides a blueprint for action in six key areas:  intelligence, emergency management, public health, transportation, border security and international security.  And PSEPC is actively engaged in all of these areas. 

Among other things, the National Security Policy announced a new Government Operations Centre, which is located within PSEPC.  It provides around-the-clock coordination and support across federal departments, as well as to key national and international players in the event of national emergencies. 

The Policy also commits our government to a range of priority initiatives, including:

• Reviewing and modernizing the Emergency Preparedness Act to achieve a seamless national emergency management system;
• Co-locating, where practical, with provincial and territorial and municipal emergency measures operation centres;
• Increasing our in-house capacity to predict and prevent cyber-security attacks against the Government of Canada’s own networks; and,
• Developing a National Cyber-security Strategy by working with the private sector and other orders of government.

Clearly, none of this can be accomplished by a single department or multi-faceted portfolio like PSEPC.  As your conference theme aptly notes, we “reduce risk through partnerships.” The Government of Canada’s commitment to collaboration is reflected in the presence, at this conference, of several of our inter-departmental partners – Environment Canada, Health Canada and Natural Resources Canada. 

Of course, the federal government alone cannot begin to address the myriad of challenges associated with national emergencies.  Partnerships with other governments, including the provinces represented here, and innovative organizations, like the Canadian Risk and Hazards Network, are vital.

In an increasingly interconnected world, we also need to cooperate closely with our global partners.  My hope is that the groundbreaking work of this symposium will help strengthen Canada’s position on key international initiatives that advance disaster mitigation, such as the United Nations’ International Strategy on Disaster Reduction.

There is an important place, and crucial role, for all of us – from front-line responders, to leading-edge researchers, to policy makers – whether we work within Canada’s borders or beyond.  We all need to learn from each other and borrow best practices, so we can connect research results to sound policy and program development, to decision-making on the ground.

I am proud to formally kick off this symposium, which will help make this progress possible. I want you to know that Minister McLellan and I – indeed, the Government of Canada – recognize and value your contributions to the renewal and modernization of our national emergency management systems.

I also recognize that it’s essential you have the time to get down to this important work.  So, I will wrap up my remarks by wishing you all the best for a very productive session.

I look forward to learning the results of your efforts in this inaugural meeting and to charting your continued success in the years ahead.  Thank you for inviting me to be part of this exciting milestone event.