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Chief Quan – has a nice ring to it!

It’s been an interesting journey for Lyle, a quiet and
unassuming but brilliant and compassionate gentleman with 26 years in emergency
services whose teaching skills and passion for lifelong learning are exemplary.

I can’t remember where or when I first met Lyle,
but we’ve become great friends and colleagues over the last three years and he’s
been a wonderful resource for me and for Fire
Fighting in Canada.

Congratulations Chief Quan!

(You can read the Waterloo Record story about his
promotion here.)

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Looks like a bit of baptism by fire (sorry!) for Chief Quan. Apparently Waterloo council has agreed to increase firefighter salaries by twice the inflation rate
and Premier Dalton McGuinty is not happy.

“I would ask all elected officials to ask
themselves what they think is the responsible thing to do,” McGuinty said Monday.

A story in yesterday's Kitchener-Waterloo Record explains
that Ontario plans to freeze
public sector wages for two years to help ease its $19-billion deficit but the
McGuinty government has excluded municipalities.

Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran says she expects
unhappy taxpayers but she also defends the salary increase, saying it matches
wage increases for other Waterloo employees. Waterloo says the increase
is an interim measure; the last firefighter contract expired in 2008. The
increase brings the salary of a first-class firefighter to $78,894.

You can read the full story here .

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Off to the Ford plant today with Oakville Fire
to see some technical rescue training . . . Photos later.