Disaster relief push
Compensation needed, Notley says but prevention is also necessary
Provinces want more cash from Ottawa to deal with natural disasters.
Premiers came together to discuss the issue Friday at the final day of the Council of the Federation meeting in Whitehorse.
It was added to the agenda by Alberta in the wake of the Fort McMurray wildfire, and it was partly a chance for Premier Rachel Notley to acknowledge the outpouring of support from across the country.
The conversation revolved around the need for provinces to work “collaboratively and intentionally” in disaster mitigation, but Notley said fires like the ones that ravaged northern Alberta also need to inform climate change initiatives — in their prevention and in reducing the climate consequences.
Disasters don’t affect every province and territory in equal measure, but Canada’s premiers agreed the federal government’s current approach places a heavy burden on those hit by fires and floods. And with natural disasters be- coming more frequent, Notley said, there needs to be more clarity in how they’re addressed.
“In particular, we’ve agreed we need to talk with the federal government about the process around compensating under the (federal natural disaster assistance program),” she said.
That means talking timelines and the scope of coverage with Ottawa, but it also means asking for more money to help prevent disasters in the first place.
The federal government allocates around $40 million a year to disaster mitigation, Notley said, yet the Flat Top report after the Slave Lake fire recommends roughly $50 million a year for wildfire prevention in Alberta alone.
“We want to be able to have a conversation about how we can obviously get more support from the federal government, but also work in a more integrated way, because these things cross borders,” she said.
We want to be able to have a conversation about how we can … get more support from the federal government.