Remarks by Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman
October 4, 2001

Mayor Lastman presented a report to Toronto City Council regarding the state of the City's Emergency Plan.

Members of Council, you are about to hear a report on the state of Toronto's Emergency Plan - and I'd ask that you give it your undivided attention because our ability to respond to a disaster is vital to the well-being of every man, woman and child in our city.

The world was shocked into a new reality September 11 - a reality that includes the possibility of additional terrorist attacks.

As elected officials, it is incumbent upon us to be prepared for that possibility. It is our responsibility to ensure that our emergency services personnel are equipped properly so that they can do their jobs as safely as possible and get us back to our day-to-day lives as quickly as possible.

It is our duty to ensure the safety of the public - and to be able to assist them if disaster strikes.

Toronto is equipped to deal with train derailments, chemical spills and floods.

We can handle hostage takings, bomb threats, subway fires and plane crashes - all the things that could and did happen before September 11.

But Toronto is not equipped to deal with a terrorist attack like the one we witnessed in New York and Washington last month.

In fact, I don't think there is a city in the world that is adequately prepared to deal with a disaster of that magnitude.

We don't have the vital protective equipment we need. We don't have the rescue workers trained to find victims trapped in collapsed skyscrapers.

We don't have the vaccines needed to deal with biological and chemical threats.

That's got to change.

We cannot afford to continue living in a world of denial. The threats are real: our response to the threats should be, too.

As the elected officials of the largest city in Canada, it is our responsibility to take the lead. It is our moral obligation to our city, to our province and to our country.

Immediately following the September 11 attacks, I asked Fire Chief Alan Speed, Police Chief Julian Fantino and General Manager of EMS, Ron Kelusky, to start working on a new Emergency Plan suitable for today's new reality.

The results of their work to date is in the emergency plan document before you.

I am told that this is not a wish list. That this is what we need if we are going to be expected to respond to a disaster of epic proportions.

With your approval today, the chiefs and I will meet with the premier and the prime minister to ask for provincial and federal support.

I am certain that they are as concerned about disaster preparedness as we are and I know we can work together to ensure the public's safety - not just in Toronto, but right across the country.

Our emergency response team will be based in Toronto but it will be capable of responding to disasters anywhere in Canada.

It will be made up of men and women specially trained to deal with the realities of the new world we live in.

An emergency response team can't guarantee a disaster won't occur in Toronto - but it can help prevent a terrorist attack, and it will save lives if the unthinkable ever happens in Toronto.

This may cost us money, but I want to be clear: our failure to act could cost us much, much more down the road.

Can we afford to do it? No. But we also can't afford not to.

I am moving that Chief Fantino, Chief Speed, General Manager Kelusky and I meet with the premier and the prime minister to obtain the necessary funding outlined in the report; and that we hold a special council meeting to discuss the report and its implementation once the meetings have taken place.