City protests service duplication

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The City of Port Alberni is joining with other BC municipalities in protesting the duplication of first responders services.

Currently, if a medical call comes in, the municipally-funded fire department is usually first on scene, followed shortly-thereafter by provincially-paid-for ambulance paramedics.

Mayor Sharie Minions said BC needs to properly fund their ambulance service, and not rely on fire departments.

“This is a service that should be provided by BC ambulance,” she said. “BC ambulance does a fantastic job with the resources that they have. They need more resources from the province and those resources need to be funded by the province and not funded by local taxpayers, so the city taxpayers are absolutely subsidizing a provincial service. A lot of municipalities around around the province are feeling this increased pressure.”

Minions said BC recently funded two more paramedics for Port Alberni but it’s not enough.

She said partially because of medical calls including overdoses and shortness of breath, the fire department overtime budget is three times more than predicted, eliminating most of the city’s proposed surplus.

She said multiple municipalities will be making it an issue at the upcoming UBCM meeting