Fort McMurray is on the list of places that will get 1-billion dollars provincial funding for flood relief.
Premier Alison Redford appointed Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA Don Scott to oversee the region’s recovery efforts.
“The municipality is on the ground right now and they are identifying needs,” he continues “I’m going to be having a discussing with our Mayor and through that process we’re going to be seeing what the provincial response should be.”
He says they won’t know how much money or where it will be going until they finish assessing the damage.
“So we’ve started the process of seeing damage and we’re really in the process of understanding exactly what the needs are.”
He toured with the Premier on her visit to see the damages here, and says she is very concerned about our regions recovery.
“I’m very pleased that Fort McMurray was specifically identified as part of the affected areas receiving access to these funds, I think it shows tremendous leadership by Premier Redford and my provincial colleagues that when there are needs, the province responds.”
Scott says there’s a huge dilemma with a disaster like this.
“The challenge with a lot of impacted residents is they very well may have no insurance coverage for this because over land flooding often does not cover the kind of damages that have resulted.”
He’s been to Heritage Park , he’s seen the Sport and Wellness Centre, and he’s been talking to many people affected.
“We’re going to be identifying those who have been impacted through this, and it’s going to be a long journey of a recovery, and we want to make sure we’re there for residents.”
The money is coming from Alberta’s Contingency Fund which helps to respond to disasters like this one.
June 25th, 2013
