IN A CRISIS, OTTAWA HAS DEEP POCKETS

In a year that has produced a seemingly endless series of catastrophes — from the Asian tsunami to Hurricane Katrina to the earthquake in Pakistan — Canadians might suspect Ottawa’s emergency funding well is beginning to run dry.

Ottawa has committed to provide $ 20- million in aid to Pakistan and said yesterday it would match contributions by individual Canadians over the next two weeks.

This is on top of the $265-million earmarked for tsunami reconstruction in Southeast Asia and $1-million in relief for flooding in South America after Tropical Storm Stan.

In truth, the government’s coffers are bulging, with the Conference Board of Canada forecasting Ottawa will run a surplus of $10billion this fiscal year.

The main source of funding for emergencies is the International Humanitarian Assistance program, which has a budget of $87-million. In the last fiscal year, however, it disbursed $203-million, mainly because of the tsunami. The balance was made up in transfers from unallocated contingency funds.

Of the $20-million announced for the Pakistan earthquake, $8million came from an inter-departmental “crisis pool” and the remaining $12-million from the Canadian International Development Agency, which administers the IHA program.

Any additional funding that arises from the pledge to match public donations will come from the inter- departmental crisis pool.

Ultimately, the decision to spend on any crisis comes down to politics. In the days following the tsunami, Ottawa raised its initial relief package from $ 1- million to $ 4- million and then to $ 80- million, partly because the extent of the disaster was becoming more clear, but also because public donations threatened to outstrip the official response.