No funding commitments from
PM
By Laurel Nadon
Staff reporter
Prime Minister Paul Martin listened to a request from provincial and
municipal government representatives last week for financial assistance
in flood recovery, but didn’t put pen to paper to offer funds.
Martin was in High River June 24 to meet with mayors and MD representatives
of areas affected by recent flooding. Representatives attended from Okotoks,
Calgary, High River, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Drumheller, Sundre,
Pincher Creek, Redwood Meadows and the MDs of Foothills and Rockyview.
“The residents have been through a tremendous experience. The spirit
of which they’ve begun the clean up is truly amazing,” Martin
said after viewing some of the damage in High River. He added that he
wanted to pass on a message of congratulations to the residents for how
quickly they’ve handled the aftermath of the flooding.
“The Canadian government recognizes that this has been a disaster,
that families and communities have been affected,” Martin said.
“Fundamentally, the federal government stands behind the people.
The reason we’re here is to have an exchange of views among municipalities.”
At one point during his tour of High River, a woman refused to shake hands
with Martin because she felt he should have been here sooner.
“I very much wish we didn’t have a minority government and
we could have gotten here sooner,” Martin said of the incident.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said the government is treating the
two floods as a single weather event under funding guidelines.
“We will continue to work closely with our provincial counterparts
as the situation progresses to determine what assistance, financial and
otherwise, we may be able to provide,” McLellan said.
Rob Renner, Minister of Municipal Affairs, said that with the flood recognized
as a single weather event, there will be a 90:10 ratio of funding, with
90 per cent from the federal government and 10 per cent from the provincial
government.
He noted that 33 registration centres have been planned or have already
opened to help people register for funding under the $55 million disaster
recovery program announced June 9. The province has said it will expand
the funds, but not until damage estimates are received.
“Given the scope of this event, we anticipate it could be well over
$110 million,” Renner said.
High River Mayor Les Rempel expressed appreciation to Martin for how quickly
funding came at both the federal and provincial level.
“The interest was in a move forward plan. It’s not about money
for the day, but planning for the future,” Rempel said.
During the mayors’ meeting, Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine showed Martin
pictures of damage in the area and told the prime minister that the preliminary
estimate for infrastructure damage to the town is $5,357,100. He said
it was great to see the cooperation between the MD of Foothills, towns
of High River and Okotoks and cities of Airdrie and Calgary.
Turner Valley Mayor Marj Straub discussed remediation of the Turner Valley
Gas Plant in hopes of moving it up on the federal government’s to-do
list. Black Diamond Mayor Rolly Magee said he wants funding for more berms
so the town isn’t flooded again.
“It’s thoughtful of him to come out here and assess the situation
and see what we’re talking about,” Magee said. “Now
he can understand our concerns better, hopefully.”
The provincial government requested funding from the federal level under
the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements, which provides financial
assistance to provinces and territories in recovery efforts related to
emergencies such as floods. The objective of the DFAA is to help return
public infrastructure and private properties to their pre-disaster condition.
The DFAA has been applied to a number of floods in Alberta, including
those in 2002 and 2004, as well as severe flooding in southern Alberta
in 1995. Since its inception in 1970, the Canadian government has provided
more than $1.6 billion in disaster assistance funding to provinces and
territories, with $112 million distributed to Alberta.
•••••
Martin also fielded questions on a wide range of topics, including the
budget, saying that Thursday’s vote was a long time coming.
“There’s been extensive discussion on the budget bills,”
Martin said, adding that municipal leaders want to see the budget passed
so they can get on with planning.
Martin said that they also want to see full discussion on homosexual marriage.
“There comes a point where parliament has to decide,” he said.
On the topic of BSE, Martin said that the border should have opened a
long time ago.
“The science is unequivocal,” Martin said. “That border
should be open. The Canadian beef industry is one of the safest and soundest
in the world.”
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Prime Minister Paul Martin meets with
the press during a tour of flooded communities in Southern Alberta
last Friday in High River. Martin pledged moral support for the flood
victims, but did not make any financial commitments.
photo by Laurel Nadon
Towns bracing for more flooding
By Wheel Staff
 As
dark clouds rolled over Southern Alberta on Monday night on could
hear residents look up and sigh, “Here we go again.”
Okotoks town council was handed a high stream advisory from Environment
Canada during its regular meeting on Monday afternoon, and it wasn’t
something that was taken very lightly. On Monday night the advisory
was upgraded to a flood watch.
With 50 to 80 mm of rain expected to fall in the foothills region
during the next 36 hours, town councillors find themselves once again
possibly bracing for the worst and have more than 3,000 sandbags available
on a moment’s notice.
“We have to be in a state of readiness for whatever comes along,”
said Okotoks municipal manager Rick Quail as reports that Black Diamond
had begun sandbagging, along with the set up of the Emergency Operations
centre in High River, began to roll in.
Joanne Irwin, public information officer for the Town of Black Diamond,
said they received a phone call from Alberta Environment on Monday
to say the town could receive up to 100 mm of rain in the next 24
hours.
“We started some proactive measures. We moved the sandbags to
strategic locations in town,” Irwin said, adding that extra
sandbags were removed from storage and taken to the town office and
fire hall for easy access.
They also began building a berm at 6 Avenue SW where they had problems
during previous flooding and placed posters around town warning residents
of the expected rainfall.
“With the current saturated ground condition, it’s cause
for concern. We have people who are still pumping their basements
because the water tables are so high,” Irwin said. “We’re
not taking it lightly by any stretch of the imagination.”
Southern Alberta residents saw heavy rainfall earlier this week, but
Alberta Environment says another flood isn’t expected.
A high streamflow advisory was issued for the Sheep River and Highwood
River on Monday afternoon.
A low pressure system was forecast to bring 50 to 80 mm of rain to
the mountain and foothills in southern Alberta over 36 hours starting
Monday night.
“We’re still at the first stage,” said Alberta Environment
communications officer Brad Ledig, noting that high streamflow is
the lowest of the advisories, followed by a flood watch and then a
flood warning. “Unless we receive more rain than what’s
been forecasted, we’re not expecting a flood watch to come into
place.”
He added that the saturated ground conditions will result in rivers
responding quickly to precipitation.
“It means we could move to a flood watch quicker than if the
ground was drier,” Ledig said. “It means we have to keep
a close eye on conditions.”
The timing of the advisory couldn’t have come at a more appropriate
time as flood delegations just wrapped up after more than an hour
of discussion.
According to Quail, damage to infrastructure from recent flooding
is estimated to be between $5.3 to $5.7 million, and eight parks and
pathways will remain closed until July 15, if not longer.
The Sheep River from the June 17 flood peaked at 980 cubic metres
per second and also managed to break away the sanitary sewer feed
across the river from south Okotoks to the north bank of the river,
sending raw sewage downstream.
As a result of the break, a temporary overland sanitary diversion
line has been installed adjacent to the Sheep River, with plans to
install a permanent line underneath the river in the next 4-6 weeks.
So far both municipal engineer Marly Oness and Ed Spar from Epcor
said the temporary line seems to be working quite well, but admitted
that it has been an ‘ongoing battle’ especially during
peak flow times.
Spar added that three water wells had to be shut down as a result
of flooding, meaning the same amount of water can’t be produced
as before.
Other numbers reported to council included 230 applications to the
provincial government for flood assistance between June 23 to 25.
Another 113 people from Okotoks and the MD of Foothills took refuge
from floodwaters at the reception centre on June 18.
In order to put things into perspective, Quail made note that the
region is 5 mm away from breaking the all-time rainfall record in
1902.
Canada Post courier arrested for mail theft
A 23-year-old Canada Post mail courier has been arrested
and charged with one count of theft of mail after she was reportedly
caught stealing mail from her route that contained cheques, credit
cards and cash.
Okotoks RCMP received information about the mail thefts on June 14
and after a subsequent investigation, arrested Tanya Brazeau of Okotoks,
along with 23-year-old Claire Senio of Edmonton.
The investigation revealed Brazeau was taking mail items prior to
the delivery to their designated mailboxes since March 2005.
During a search warrant of an Okotoks residence, RCMP discovered numerous
pieces of mail such as occasion cards, credit cards, drivers licences,
government cheques and several parcels. The value of the items has
not been determined.
Canada Post would not comment about the crime.
In addition to the charge of theft of mail, Brazeau and Senio have
also been charged with one count of opening mail under the Canada
Post Corporation Act. The pair has been released since taken into
custody on June 23 and will appear in Okotoks Provincial Court Aug.
9.
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In this issue...
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Health boost
New CT scanner
for High River
See News
Centennial Celebration -
Historic Millarville
Races turn 100
See Sports
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