$190-million ice storm aid unclaimed by Ontario municipalities
It’s been almost a year since last December’s crippling ice storm but not a penny of $190 million of emergency funding has flowed.

TheStar.ca
Dec. 5, 2014
Richard J. Brennan

It’s been almost a year since last December’s crippling ice storm and not a penny of the $190-million Ice Storm Assistance Program has been paid to municipalities, including hard-hit Toronto, the Star has learned.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin blamed municipalities for not completing and filing detailed applications. The deadline is Dec. 31.

“It’s simple as that,” McMeekin said.

Only one of 53 municipalities has completed the necessary paper work.

The Dec. 21, 2013 ice storm is still fresh in the minds of the residents of Toronto and surrounding areas. Thick ice knocked out power for days in some cases. Fallen trees toppled wires and made streets impassable.

Municipalities say the claims process is unnecessarily complex and even convinced the government to move the Oct. 31 deadline to end of the year, which also might be flexible. The application is so detailed the government had to find a consultant to help municipalities make a final submission.

So far only Township of Mapleton in Wellington County has made an official claim for $23,009. There are also six conservation authorities looking for money but none of them has filed an application.

A city of Toronto spokeswoman said the city’s application for assistance will be in by the deadline.

“We frankly want to make sure that we do this right. We never want to be in a position where we are expediting, pushing money out the door . . . .” said McMeekin, who told the Star earlier: “We’re not an ATM.”

The Ice Storm Assistance Program is distinct from the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program. Under the ice storm program the province must cover municipal costs and then apply to Ottawa for compensation. Given the magnitude of the ice storm damage, Ontario is eligible for federal disaster financial assistance and has submitted an application to Public Safety Canada to share the cost of the storm.

Elizabeth Savill, a spokesperson for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), said that while the assistance was welcome, the process to tap into it is considered onerous, to the point where her own municipality Northumberland County is one the verge of abandoning its $38,000 claim.

“Some municipalities may decide then can’t meet the onerous requirements being placed on municipalities. In . . . Northumberland County we weren’t looking to make a really large claim . . . we will seriously reconsider whether or not we submit an application under the program,” said Savill, the chief administrative officer for the county and AMO secretary treasurer.

Among other things, a federal audit requirement has made the process far more complex, she said.

To make matters worse Savill said there is a claim review period that could drag the process out even further, possibly to 2016.

McMeekin said municipal concerns about the program come as a complete surprise.

“We’ve not had a single municipality complain about the process to date,” he said.

Veteran Progressive Conservative MPP Ernie Hardeman (Oxford) said, “I just can’t believe that it needs to be that complicated for the people filling it out. They (a provincially hired consultant) actually gave training to municipal staff to fill out an application.”

“I have never seen anything like it.

“Emergency assistance should not take a year to get the applications filled out,” he said, adding earlier application forms were emailed to municipalities in September but the training required to fill out the forms wasn’t available until Nov. 18 and 20.

Hardeman earlier questioned the government’s decision to pay $2.8 million to a private company, Landlink Consulting Ltd., to assist with processing the claims. He stated Landlink had numerous problems with the Alberta Flood Relief Program, resulting in the provincial government publicly ending the contract.