2026 Charlottetown Municipal Election Questionnaire

I think that the City should use that professional assessment along with data from recent years, first hand accounts of the experience of the chief, platoon chiefs, career firefighters and volunteer firefighters and accounts of other emergency services to make long term decisions.

The assessment should be an important guide for long-term planning. I support working with the Fire Chief and Council to prioritize its recommendations, understand the costs and risks, and incorporate necessary investments into future budgets.

First, I'd share this with all parties involved; then we'll sit down and determine the best path forward based on the report's recommendations. You know your teams better than I do, so if you know of potential gaps in the staffing report, that insight is valuable.

It should be taken seriously as independent professional evidence and considered together with the Fire Chief’s advice and the City’s operational data. It should have been made public starting twenty years ago, and there should have been public meetings to build support for its recommendations.

Council should not commission professional assessments and then quietly disregard recommendations it finds inconvenient.

Where an assessment identifies deficiencies or future requirements, Council should either develop a plan to address them or publicly explain, based on professional evidence, why it has chosen another approach.

I would also expect reports of this kind to be considered by the Public Safety and Emergency Services Commission so that recommendations affecting staffing, stations, water supply, emergency management or other services are considered together rather than in isolation.

The City asked for the Fire Underwriters Survey and paid for it. We should release it, read it and use it.

It should be a major part of the Fire Master Plan, along with advice from the Fire Chief and the experience of frontline career and volunteer firefighters.

We’ve seen too many studies and recommendations sit without action. If Council disagrees with a recommendation or cannot act on it immediately, then Council should explain why and say what it plans to do instead.

No more reports sitting on shelves!

We would use this professional assessment as a resource document when making long-term decisions about the Fire Department.

I would use any collection of data as an important consideration towards making any decisions about city needs, but it would be one consideration among many as there are many sources of information on any given topic, however it could pose as a reasonable goal to work towards.