A debate at the city's Community and Protective Services Committee today over the hiring of more paramedics ended up being more emotional than anyone expected.
City staff say more paramedics are needed in order to reach their target response times to help people with life-threatening injuries or conditions.
The service says a 24 per cent increase in service calls over the last five years has put pressure on their ability to respond quickly.
A motion was passed in favour of a plan to hire 38 new members over the next two years.
During debate, Councillor Tobi Nussbaum did not appear to be convinced, asking whether arriving to help a cardiac patient after six minutes makes a difference from six and a half minutes.
"It's just not clear from the report," said Nussbaum. "I can't say with a straight face, necessarily, that it's going to result in saving lives or a reduced mortality rate."
Councillor Stephen Blais - who suffered a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 32 - became choked up as he offered a passionate response.
"For every minute of response time, your survival rate declines by 10 per cent."
He later accused Nussbaum of holding paramedic funding hostage in order to pay for pet projects.
If the hiring plan is approved by council, 24 paramedics would be added to the ranks and trained by August next year.
Another 14 would be hired in 2018.
Appearing on CFRA's Ottawa Now with Evan Solomon after the meeting, Nussbaum insisted he wasn't asserting anything with his comments, saying he was just asking questions.