Feds pledge $2.8B in flood aid
Redford cheers funds, but total falls short of amount requested
Ottawa is earmarking $2.8 billion for Alberta flood assistance and is promising an undetermined but “substantial cash payment” will flow this budget year.
The amount — released as part of the federal government’s economic and fiscal update Tuesday — is shy of the $3.1 billion the province had been seeking in federal disaster assistance.
But Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney told reporters the total earmarked for Alberta could still go up or down depending on the submissions from the provincial government.
“I think this is a very clear indication that the prime minister’s commitment from last June is essentially money in the bank,” said Kenney, the MP for Calgary Southeast.
“It is a huge federal commitment and I can’t imagine why the province would be anything but very pleased to see that we are making good.”
Premier Alison Redford, speaking from Washington, D.C., said she was “very pleased to see this commitment so early in the process.”
“It is a bit of a work in progress. We’ve been providing the federal government with the most up-to-date information that we can,” she said in a conference call with reporters.
“This is in line with what we expected them to do because as we move forward we will continue to have some additional costs and we’re very much in line in terms of what those costs will be and what will be recoverable. So we anticipated somewhere around this number.”
Kenney said the f ull $2.8 billion will not be allocated in the current budget year, which runs to the end of March 2014.
He said he cannot say how much will be spent this year except that a significant amount will come in the next few months.
“We’re erring on the side of generosity. We’ll make substantial upfront cash payments to help the province manage the cost of this,” said Kenney.
At the time of the province’s first-quarter fiscal report, the Redford government had budgeted $704 million for floodrelated costs so far this year.
The mid-year report will be released before the end of the month.
The province has estimated the total cost of the southern Alberta flooding — the worst natural disaster in provincial history — at approximately $6.1 billion, with the province on the hook initially for up to $4 billion.
Under the disaster-recovery agreement between the federal government and the provinces, Ottawa reimburses provinces for up to 90 per cent of approved disaster costs, such as homeowners’ uninsured losses.
Kenney said that the $2.8 billion represents the federal responsibility based on the total cost figure provided by Alberta. However, the province confirmed Tuesday that its preliminary estimate of the federal share remains at $3.1 billion.
Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty recently suggested Ottawa would be paying $2.6 billion in relation to the Alberta flood, a figure Redford called “probably low.”
However, Kenney said that political back-and-forth played no role in determining the current financial commitment.
He said the two sides will “work through the details” and acknowledged that a final tally may not be known for several years.
“These funds have to be properly audited. The two levels of government have to sort out what constitute eligible expenses,” said Kenney.