BILL NO. 452
(as introduced)
1st Session, 64th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
2 Charles III, 2024
Private Member's Bill
Emergency Preparedness Act
The Honourable Ben Jessome
Hammonds Plains–Lucasville
First Reading: March 26, 2024
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act Respecting
Emergency Preparedness
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Emergency Preparedness Act.
2 The purpose of this Act is to improve and standardize responses to emergencies and natural disasters.
"Fund" means the Nova Scotia Emergency Preparedness Fund established under Section 4;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the Emergency Management Office;
"municipality" means a municipality as defined in the Municipal Government Act;
"Office" means the Office of Emergency Management.
4 The Nova Scotia Emergency Preparedness Fund is established as a special purpose fund as defined in the Finance Act.
5 (1) The Office shall conduct a study to determine an adequate level of appropriations for the Fund considering the increase in emergencies and natural disasters due to the climate emergency and the vulnerability of the Province to those emergencies and disasters.
(2) The study referred to in subsection (1) must be updated annually.
(3) Subject to Section 11, the Government shall, in each year, transfer from the Green Fund established under the Environment Act to the Fund an amount equal to or greater than the amount determined by the study.
6 Money in the Fund may only be used for the purposes of increasing emergency preparedness and assisting in responses to emergencies and natural disasters and may include
(a) the purchase of equipment;
(b) assistance to municipalities in emergency preparedness; and
(c) relief for the victims of emergencies and natural disasters.
7 (1) The Minister shall develop, in collaboration with the Government of Canada, a protocol for communications and responses during emergencies and natural disasters.
(2) The protocol must include the provision of support to the Province from the Government of Canada within 24 hours of the onset of an emergency or a natural disaster.
8 (1) The Minister shall develop, in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, a protocol for communications and responses during emergencies and natural disasters.
(2) The protocol must include the provision of support to municipalities from the Government of the Province within 24 hours of the onset of an emergency or a natural disaster and a mechanism to relay the needs of municipalities to the Government of Canada.
9 (1) The Office shall develop and publish standard procedures for the timing and content of public communications during emergencies and natural disasters.
(2) The Office and municipalities shall follow the standard procedures during an emergency or a natural disaster.
(3) The Office and municipalities shall conduct joint training on the standard procedures at least annually.
10 (1) Subject to Section 11, the Office shall develop a centralized emergency communication system.
(2) The emergency communication system must be made available to municipalities for use during localized emergencies and natural disasters.
(3) The emergency communication system must be able to function during an outage of electricity and cellular and internet communication.
11 The money required for the purpose of this Act must be paid out of money appropriated for that purpose by the Legislature.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2024 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created March 26, 2024. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
