CBRM fire chief walks out on councillors in dispute over recruitment report

Four senior staff members in Cape Breton Regional Municipality's fire department walked out on councillors during a committee meeting on Wednesday.

The fire chief and three of his employees left during a dispute sparked by a committee member who questioned the contents of a staff report on efforts to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.

Councillors were disappointed and surprised by the move.

Coun. Steve Parsons said the chief may have felt the questions were inappropriate, but that had yet to be determined.

"For him to get up and walk out of this committee meeting, I think it's somewhat embarrassing, unethical and it should be challenged," Parsons said.

Coun. Darren O'Quinn agreed.

"It's our job to ask uncomfortable questions," he said.

"Our residents bring this up to us and we're the in-between person. And if we're not able to ask those questions, we're not doing our job.

"That was totally disrespectful what just happened here, and I just want to go on record saying that I don't support that at all. I think it was a bad, bad look on CBRM."

Coun. Gordon MacDonald said a staff report he requested did not answer his questions on recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters.

He asked Fire Chief Michael Seth about that during the committee meeting and said deputy chief Chris March, who authored the report, agreed that the paper was incomplete.

MacDonald persisted in questioning the chief, which is when Seth and his senior staff packed up and left.

MacDonald said he was disappointed and intends to ask for an apology.

"I have never seen the person in charge of a department walk out because they were asked a few questions," he said.

The fire chief did not respond to a request for comment.

Deputy mayor James Edwards, who chairs the committee, said he will be taking the matter up with the mayor.

Retention not an issue: deputy

MacDonald's initial request, made in November 2021 and approved by council, asked for a report on what was being done to recruit and retain members of volunteer departments, and whether any programs or incentives were being considered to attract new firefighters.

The deputy's issue paper was written in January 2022, but was not submitted to the committee until earlier this year.

In it, March said volunteer firefighters mostly quit when age or ability became an issue, so retention did not need to be addressed.

He said recruitment is generally difficult across Canada and CBRM has 34 volunteer emergency services that are responsible for their own recruiting.

March recommended that administration be given formal authority to take over recruiting for all departments and laid out a multi-point plan that would help them, including through traditional and social media campaigns and public events.

MacDonald told the committee he was looking for suggestions such as recruiting messages in CBRM tax bills and on buses.

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