2026 Charlottetown Municipal Election Questionnaire

I want to address the two key issues that have been coming up for the past decade: the third station and the fourth person on the truck.

Charlottetown should have three properly equipped stations and a sustainable staffing model. As Mayor, I would support completing the third station and incorporating future staffing, equipment and operating needs into the City’s long-term financial planning.

We are a growing city, but what I want to see before the end of my first term as mayor is all departments properly staffed. Make sure your departments are properly equipped for our changing city as we build up, ensure we have a fleet of engines that can handle taller structure fires, and make sure you are prepared and trained for new threats such as lithium fires. If I take a second term, it will be my last. I hope to continue with what I laid out before and grow our department to meet the needs of our growing city.

I would look at this in two stages.

Within five years, I would expect the third station to be operating, a larger professional firefighting complement to have been developed according to the Fire Chief's staffing plan, and our immediate firefighter-paramedic initiative to have matured into whatever medical-response model proves operationally appropriate.

On the volunteer side, I would like us working toward at least 120 trained volunteers and to have established a Junior Firefighter or Youth Fire Brigade program that creates a continuing pathway into volunteer service.

I would also expect the department to have the specialized equipment and training required for the industrial risks within Charlottetown, including major flammable-liquid incidents.

And I would expect the Public Safety and Emergency Services Commission to be established and functioning as the place where fire, policing, emergency management and municipal public-safety planning come together at the governance level.

Within ten years, I can see the next generation of Charlottetown’s fire infrastructure beginning to take shape.

Station 1 will eventually require renewal. Rather than waiting until that becomes an urgent capital problem, I would want the City planning well in advance for its renovation, replacement or redevelopment based on the Fire Chief’s assessment of what the downtown and surrounding area will require at that time.

I can also foresee a satellite emergency-response facility in another strategically useful part of the city. That does not necessarily mean another conventional fully staffed fire station. It could provide a location for pre-positioning specialized apparatus, reserve equipment, emergency supplies or other assets so everything does not have to originate from one of the principal stations when a major event occurs.

The location, equipment and operational model should follow the City’s growth, risk mapping and the Fire Chief’s professional advice.

By then I want Charlottetown to have a mature system in which our principal stations, professional firefighters, much larger volunteer complement, specialized industrial capability and strategically pre-positioned equipment all work together.

Fire protection should be part of a much broader emergency-readiness system.

That means regular all-hazards exercises, planning for hurricanes and prolonged utility failures, coordinated work with provincial agencies and neighbouring municipalities, protected communications and fuel supplies, and trained municipal employees who can perform support functions such as traffic control, debris clearance and other emergency duties.

During my first term, I would want the third station moving forward, four additional firefighter-paramedics added immediately, the Fire Underwriters Survey made public, an adopted multi-year staffing plan, volunteer recruitment expanded, a youth-firefighter program under development, specialized industrial-risk capability funded, a comprehensive emergency-readiness program in operation, and the new Public Safety and Emergency Services Commission established.

Charlottetown should have properly located and staffed fire stations, reliable equipment and comparable immediate fire protection throughout the city.

Career firefighters should provide a dependable first response, supported by trained and properly equipped volunteer firefighters. Both groups need to be respected and given the resources to do their jobs safely.

During my term, I would want to see the third station move forward with a real staffing plan, immediate improvements to career staffing and a Fire Master Plan that is public, funded and acted upon.

I fully expect that eventually we will be moving to a fully staffed fire service for the Capital Region. Planning needs to start now and the immediate priority is the creation of Station 3.

I picture the best future for our city’s fire force continually expanding slowly, adding more recruitment efforts and community engagement projects to have more of an eye from the public on the importance of the fire services role and their own roles in maintain a healthy and safe community. Seeing upgrades to the current service continuing to meet the new demands the future will offer. My first effort would go toward developing much more robust emergency plans for the city, including adding food/drink storage to sustain citizens in the event of major emergencies, have more spaces equipped to take in displaced individuals with emergency sources for heat and power, as well as expand resources to supply victims of disasters until they get back on their feet.