The Saskatchewan government will spend $14.7 million to help residents in 84 municipalities cope with severe weather-related damage.
The commitment is 27 times more than what the province normally allocates to the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program. The three-year average payout in 2002-04 was $550,000.
Corrections and public safety minister Peter Prebble said Nov. 17 that total damage from summer storms this year is estimated at between $23 million and $28 million, some of which was covered by private insurance.
The provincial program provides compensation under a cost-sharing formula to municipalities and individual residents for damage or loss to essential uninsurable property caused by natural disasters.
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Prebble noted that damage was widespread this year mostly because of high winds, heavy rain and flooding. Some places, such as Arborfield, were flooded twice.
Other affected areas included Lloydminster, Maidstone, Porcupine Plain, Melville, Humboldt and Swift Current.
The government is processing more than 1,500 claims, about half of them from a severe June rainstorm in Saskatoon.
Municipalities that lost roads and bridges will also receive assistance.
The money to pay for the increased funding is coming from an extra $873 million the province has received because of high oil and gas prices. The government announced the figure in its mid-year financial report Nov. 16.
Finance minister Harry Van Mulligen said the majority, about 86 percent of the in-year improvement, is being allocated to one-time or nonrecurring items.”
This includes $84.2 million to fully fund payments under the 2005 Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program. In its first quarter, the government announced a $75 million payment to fully fund the 2004 program.
The opposition Saskatchewan Party said Van Mulligen should have announced tax cuts, but the finance minister said oil and gas revenues are too unpredictable to fund them.
Liberal leader David Karwacki said the government should have put more toward debt reduction. About $76 million was earmarked for that.
