Political Interference in Preparedness

Inside My Canoehead

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Your local emergency management office is under an unmanageable regulatory burden.
In Canada, this is becoming more prevalent. Within EM, governments in Western and Central Canada have appointed political staffers to key positions within EM to drive an agenda for change.
The first iteration is when the key municipal leadership is of a different political stripe than the premier. This has flowed into new regulatory frameworks downloading significant responsibilities on an unfunded municipal entity in order to ensure that the future liabilities remain outside the political halls of the provincial government. Further, political appointees have been placed in senior roles above the directors influencing the allocation of budgets and steering the EM initiatives towards isolating the Minister from blame or responsibility. The end result of these two principal activities, is to deliver results for the government, to separate responsibilities for future mitigation, preparedness and response operations, leaving little hope that municipal governments will be capable of managing significant disruptions. Opening the door for the sub-national government to be seen as at the level of government intervening in the crisis and saving the day. These appointees do not arrive with EM education, leading to additional rifts within the senior EM-trained positions, who are attempting to move EM modernization through bureaucracy.
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