A new provincial poll released the end of January shows that Ontarians aren’t on board for recent Liberal government changes that would redirect 911 medical calls away from paramedic ambulance services to fire departments. If they had to make a 911 call for medical assistance for themselves or a family member, more than 83 per cent of the 2,500 Ontarians surveyed said they prefer a response by an ambulance service. Only 6.8 per cent said they preferred a response by a fire department.

The poll was conducted late in 2017, immediately following the passing of changes to the Ambulance Act that could allow fundamental changes to 911 emergency medical response and pre-hospital care, say paramedics with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). These changes include allowing pilot projects in “willing” municipalities to experiment with using firefighters who also have a paramedic designation to respond to pre-hospital emergency medical calls.

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