(6) Every municipality shall review and, if necessary, revise its emergency plan every year. 2002, c. 14, s. 5 (3).

Central to the Plan is the creation of the structure to respond to emergencies as they arise. The City utilizes a Community Control Group (CCG) comprised of officials from various areas both internal and external to the City to continue the provision of services while minimizing the impacts of the emergency, and relies on the Incident Management System as a structure to respond to any emergency at a high level. Transit Windsor is not specifically addressed in the Plan, however the City Engineer sits as a member of the CCG and represents the operations of Transit in any emergency.

There are a number of annexes to the Plan which address specific issues and can be referenced as required. The Pandemic Plan is not currently an annex of the Plan, although it will be added during the next annual review of the Plan or during the after-action review of the emergency.

Currently, the Pandemic Plan outlines services that are deemed “essential” to the municipality, including Transit. The impact of this designation is to recognize the importance of Transit while prioritizing resources to deliver services, but it does not create a mandatory requirement to provide Transit service and it does not infringe on the broader ability within the plan to modify service levels in response to the issue being faced, as the Pandemic Plan specifically allows for flexibility in service levels, depending on the extent of the crisis.

It is noted that while Transit Windsor has a plan to address labour disruption, it does not have a broader Business Continuity Plan in the event of a pandemic or other disruptive event.

2. What are the legal consequences or obligations that derive from this designation if any and, and what legal or procedural options could be considered to improve the decision making process including but not limited to only Council consultation when service levels for essential services are to be altered?

As noted above, the pandemic plan designation of Transit service as being “essential” prioritizes the service during times of crisis, but the broader scope of the Plan permits service level alteration as required to respond to the magnitude of the crisis.

If the intent is to ensure that significant service level changes to Transit or any other service are not within the scope of the authority granted to the head of council by section 4(1) of the EMPCA, it is recommended that any services that Council wishes to single out for specific treatment or consideration during a pandemic be identified. Administration would then prepare a comprehensive report dealing with each identified service, provide recommendations and options to address the service, and the risks and challenges of doing so. Council may then choose to include to specifically address requirements to that service in the Plan.