NDP calls for review of flood response
The NDP wants an independent review of whether greater government action after the last bout of major flooding in Alberta could have minimized the billions of dollars in damage caused by this year’s flood, the worst in provincial history.
In a letter sent to auditor-general Merwan Saher on Wednesday, NDP Leader Brian Mason asked him to look at the government’s response to the Provincial Flood Mitigation Report written by then-MLA George Groeneveld following the 2005 floods.
“This is a very big deal as far as I’m concerned,” Mason said in an interview from Edmonton.
“If the government could have prevented this, or prevented some of those costs and some of the suffering that has taken place, then we need to know.”
In the midst of last month’s unprecedented southern Alberta flooding, the government said it had made progress on 13 of Groeneveld’s 18 recommendations.
Groeneveld pegged the total cost of acting on his recommendations at $306 million, with the bulk of the cost coming from flood mitigation measures such as land purchase, dykes and retro flood-proofing of buildings.
One of the key recommendations of the Groeneveld report that was not acted upon was to prohibit disaster recovery payments for inappropriate new development in flood risk zones, which would effectively ban much new building on flood plains.
The Progressive Conservative government has just announced plans aimed at moving homes and businesses out of floodways and to implement flood-proofing measures in flood fringe areas affected by the recent disaster.
Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths was unavailable for comment Wednesday. His press secretary, Kathleen Range, questioned the need for a review by the auditor general.
“It’s really unfortunate the opposition is now trying to make it look like the flood was somehow government’s fault,” she said. “The flood was off the charts.”
Kimberly Nishikaze, spokeswoman for the auditor general, said the office had received Mason’s letter and would likely respond next week.