Federal cost of natural disaster help has been steadily rising since 1970
GATINEAU, Que. — The increasing number and intensity of natural disasters in Canada pushed Ottawa’s bills for federal help to $360 million a year since 2011 — three times what the annual cost was in the previous decade, a recent program review shows.
The numbers clearly suggest a dramatic escalation in the frequency and severity of natural calamities, a theme Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed Thursday after embarking on a helicopter tour of flood-ravaged western Quebec.
Since the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program was launched in 1970, it has handed over $4.1 billion to the provinces to help foot the recovery bill in the wake of 240 storms, fires, and spring floods.
Almost half of it — $1.8 billion — was since 2010, says the March report, which does not include figures for at least 17 events that occurred since 2014 because they hadn’t yet been designated as eligible for assistance.