To the editor,
Our Member of Provincial Parliament, Randy Pettapiece, has spent virtually his entire career in the Ontario legislature working to get some changes to the provincial fire code – not major changes mind you, just some fairly minor simple stuff. Lifesaving stuff.
And anyone around here who has heard the story would think, “Yeah, that’s sure needed to save the lives of firefighters in the future.”
Anyone else around the province who might hear the story would think, “Yeah, that’s sure needed to save the lives of firefighters in the future.”
And anyone in the Ontario legislature who heard the story would think, “Yeah, that’s sure needed to save the lives of firefighters in the future.”
But it took 10 years to get a change that would make it mandatory for local building officials to notify fire officials if a new building (not a residence) was being constructed or renovated using lightweight systems. Why so long? Why the 10 years when it should have been one, maybe two at the most?
The answer is found in the word “politics.”
But what if another fire in another part of Ontario killed another couple of firefighters because they weren’t aware that the building had been constructed with lightweight systems? Different story.
Is it any wonder that we can value our own local representative in the political arena, but so many of us are totally jaded about our system of government that supposedly cares for us?
John McVicar
Listowel
