Federal flood funding undercuts Alberta’s deficit excuse

Ottawa’s solid pledge of $2.8 billion for flood relief and reconstruction is good news for southern Alberta, the provincial treasury, and maybe even Premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives.

But then ... easy money always comes with a few strings, doesn’t it?

Jason Kenney, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet surrogate in southern Alberta, said time and again Tuesday that a big chunk of the $2.8 billion will be paid before March 31, the end of the fiscal year.

This will ease the province’s revenue crunch. It will make for a healthier balance sheet and perhaps obviate the need for some borrowing.

From every practical viewpoint, it’s good news for Alberta, especially when Ottawa also promises to balance the federal budget by 2015-16.

And yet, there were a couple of subtle twists to Kenney’s repetition of an earlier announcement in Ottawa.

By paying much of the $2.8 billion in this fiscal year, the federal move steals away any provincial “flood excuse” for a big Alberta deficit next year.

Also, Ottawa can no longer serve as the province’s punching bag for slow disaster relief payments. The feds and the province have both been guilty of this infuriating practice over the years, but lately Redford’s crew have directed blame at Ottawa. That won’t work any more.

Kenney didn’t say how much of the $2.8 billion will arrive before March 31, although he indicated it will be a very large sum.

He did point out, however, that the amount is about 90 per cent of Alberta’s $3.1 billion spending estimate — exactly what policy requires Ottawa to pay.

Timing is another matter. Nothing requires the federal government to pay anything at all before all the claims are in and the accounting done.

Yet they’re doing it anyway — “erring on the side of generosity,” as Kenney put it.

In effect, Ottawa is mirroring Alberta’s quickaction policy to get relief to people as soon as possible.

Redford’s delight was obvious when she responded to the announcement from Washington.

“We really appreciate that,” she said. “We anticipated somewhere around this number. We’re very pleased to see this commitment.”

Like Kenny, Redford doesn’t see the $2.8 billion as final. Unlike him, however, she didn’t suggest that it might turn out to be lower.

Such quibbles will go on, but one thing is undeniable: Southern Alberta is very lucky to have homers in charge of both governments at a time like this.

Really, with such a massive natural disaster in one part of Canada, what are the chances of the prime minister himself representing the riding that includes the Glenmore Reservoir?

Redford and Harper obviously grasp the importance of building protection against future flooding, even though the funding announced Tuesday won’t pay for any of that.

Kenney said governments can apply for mitigation funding through the Building Canada program. Ottawa is keen to shift to “forward-looking mitigation rather than backward looking response.”

Asked why Ottawa provided no such money after the 2005 flood, and a subsequent provincial report that called for aggressive mitigation, Kenney had a sharp response.

“Look, we were never asked to, that’s the answer. We can’t fund what we aren’t ask to fund.”

Governments simply didn’t care enough back then. Now, prevention is a serious priority.

Canada today is one of the few countries on earth that would commit so quickly not just to rebuilding, but even to improving what was there before.

One can only hope, and pray, that those poor souls in the Philippines will be half as fortunate.