astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
Alberta premier Ed Stelmach says the province is doing everything it can to get cash into the hands of flood victims as quickly as possible.
In a one-on-one interview with the News on Thursday, Stelmach said an additional $250,000 worth of cheques would be going out by Friday — to top off the $600,000 in disaster assistance that has already been delivered to flood-ravaged southeast Albertans.
On July 6 Alberta set aside a potential $203 million to help victims of flooding in Medicine Hat and Cypress County.
However, Stelmach said the sheer magnitude of the June flood disaster — combined with recent severe weather events in other parts of the province — has put unprecedented pressure on the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
“We now have 12 disaster zones set up in the province. We have staff with 30 years’ experience who have never seen it this busy, so we’re processing as many applications as possible,” Stelmach said. “We’re looking at every possible way of how we can expedite payment. We knew immediately that we needed to hire more people, so we immediately contracted more folks, but since then we’ve had a number of other disaster areas.”
Stelmach said he feels for those who have suffered devastating losses, but said the disaster assistance program has certain guidelines that must be followed.
“For example, I’m gathering there are some who didn’t carry insurance, and we have to keep in mind there are very strict rules by Treasury Board, through the guidelines of this program, that this is for the uninsurable part of the damages,” he said. “We have to be responsible for taxpayers’ money, and also make sure that the Auditor General — when he goes through the payments — finds that it’s all done according to the regulations.”
Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Len Mitzel told the News he would like to see “more flexibility” in how payments are awarded. Stelmach said it’s a balancing act, partly because the federal government will be checking to ensure the funds were handed out responsibly.
“I’ve made the commitment and we discussed it around our cabinet table, to keep reviewing the policies and finding the balance between the rigid guidelines,” Stelmach said. “Because after a certain number of cash payouts, then the federal government will assist the province. However, they then go through the payouts and make sure everything we’ve paid out has been according to the criteria.”
Stelmach added the province is also committed to helping people work with their insurance agency.
“I spoke to a lot of the families, and I said, ‘is there anything we can do to help you with your insurance as well?’ Because there’s this feeling sometimes that if the government is doing something, then maybe a private insurance company won’t have to pay out as much,” Stelmach said. “(In past disasters), sometimes the best assistance we gave was to hire some arbitrators who could sit down and represent the victim that had the insurance and negotiate with the insurance provider for full coverage.”
The premier said he takes issue with the criticism being levelled at his government by those who believe its counterparts in Saskatchewan have done a better job of rolling out a disaster response program.
“I can tell you we’re far ahead of Saskatchewan in terms of the amount that’s covered, the caps on the program, and what we cover,” Stelmach said, adding the Saskatchewan government may have gotten interim cheques into the hands of victims faster but will not be providing full payments until repair work is complete.
He added the government is committed to helping those who need it most first — and that means some agricultural producers may have to wait.
“I met with a number of farmers in Clearwater yesterday, and many would like to see money in hands now,” Stelmach said. “Well, I’m a farmer and I struggled through a few tough years. The crop doesn’t go to market until fall anyway, so with the crop portion, yeah, we have a little bit of time to work out the total losses. My concern is for families whose homes, whose equipment, whose livelihood vanished in front of them.”

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