Military mum over emergency help costs
Generals risk losing the goodwill Canadians have toward Forces: analysts
OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces can’t say what criteria it will use to charge provinces and municipalities if they need help in an emergency or during disaster.
It also can’t say whether it will be able to provide local governments with specific costs in advance for the various services it can offer so provinces and municipalities can decide whether they can afford to call in the military to help fellow citizens.
But some defence analysts warn that the generals are toying with disaster themselves as a large amount of the goodwill Canadians have toward the military is based on their past performances helping the public during disasters at home.
“This could backfire,” said Martin Shadwick, a strategic studies professor at York University. “The average citizen’s point of view will likely be that they pay for DND and the Canadian Forces through their taxes, so why are they getting billed?”
Postmedia News broke the story this week that the Defence Department quietly de- cided last year to begin invoicing provinces, municipalities and other government departments in most cases where the military’s assistance is required.
Officials with the Defence Department say it has always had the authority to recoup costs incurred when it provides such assistance, but for the past 15 years it has waived that authority.
In the event of a disaster or emergency, the department will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to levy charges, they add.
But the Defence Department could not comment Thursday on the criteria it will use to make its decisions in such cases. In addition, it couldn’t say whether it has come up with a costing arrangement to provide to municipalities and provinces in the event local governments are considering requesting military assistance.
Officials representing various municipalities and provinces say they first heard about DND’s decision when they read about it in the Postmedia report.
In the past two years, Canadian soldiers have helped fight flooding in Manitoba and Quebec and evacuated, housed and fed residents of northern Ontario communities threatened by forest fires. The costs borne by the military varied from nearly $4 million for the flooding in Quebec and $3.8 million for the flood mitigation in Manitoba to $51,000 for feeding evacuees of communities in northern Ontario.
But Shadwick said it was the Canadian Forces’ top-notch performance responding to a series of disas-
“It’s difficult in advance to come up with a menu or shopping list.”
MARTIN SHADWICK, PROFESSOR
ters in the late 1990s, including the 1998 ice storm that hit much of Eastern Canada, which earned kudos from the public.
“It was the Forces’ response to those that did more than anything to rehabilitate the image of the military in the years after the Somalia affair,” he said. “That was before 9/11 and it showed the Forces at their best.”
Former chief of the defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier has credited the 1998 ice storm, in particular, for changing public attitudes toward those in uniform.
Shadwick said the military and DND now run the risk of a “self-inflicted wound” because of their decision. If provinces and municipalities are required to pay for emergency assistance some will think twice about calling on the military. That, in turn, could mean less reliance on the Canadian Forces in this area, undercutting military claims that it provides this important service to their fellow Canadians, Shadwick said.
The other problem will be in providing costs to municipalities and provinces. Every disaster or emergency situation is different, Shadwick noted. “It’s difficult in advance to come up with a menu or a shopping list of what it will cost and some provinces might be hesitant to agree to a blank cheque,” he added.
The public is also keen to see Canadian troops ready to provide disaster assistance and humanitarian aid at home if needed, according to information presented to the senior leadership of the Canadian Forces in June 2011 and later obtained by Postmedia. Pollsters hired by the DND told the military leadership that disaster relief in Canadian communities was selected at the top priority mission by 73 per cent of those polled.
The Defence Department’s decision to start charging on a cost-recovery basis is outlined in an internal memo to Defence Minister Peter MacKay from July that was obtained by Postmedia News.
“Whilst DND has typically waived the cost of CF assistance to other government departments over the past 15 years,” reads a briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Peter MacKay this past July, “given present fiscal restraints, the department is no longer in a position to routinely waive the often significant costs associated with this assistance.
“Going forward, the waiving of such costs must be the exception, rather than the rule,” the note adds.
A Defence Department spokesperson confirmed the decision was finalized in July. National Defence spokeswoman Tanya LeBlanc said in an emailed statement sent recently that the department “takes its role as a strong steward of public resources very seriously and makes every effort to ensure sound financial management of taxpayer dollars.”
“DND has always had the authority to recoup costs,” she added. “Given present fiscal restraints, DND has decided to exercise its authority to recoup costs related to support to other government departments when it deems it necessary.”