Burlington helps the province revise the flood disaster relief program - having the local MPP being a member of the government didn't hurt.

By Pepper Parr

August 14th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

While there were a lot of negatives coming out of that disastrous flood more than a year ago – there have been some positive developments – the provincial government has revamped the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program significantly – and much of the change is the result of comments – and some criticism, from the people in Burlington who had to deal with all that water.

Could this have been prevented? Will the plans the city has for dealing with future floods make a difference and can we afford them? The truth is we cannot afford not to make plans and build financial reserves.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is going to announce the changes on Monday at the Association of Municipalities (AMO) conference taking place in Niagara Falls that the public funding portion of the ODRAP is going to be dropped – there is much more to the changes.

The paper work involved in seeking financial assistance was exhausting – 272 of the 310 claims made were accepted.

Many people found the process of applying for financial support very difficult – having to fill in complex forms and provide significant amounts of detail while dealing with the aftermath of the flood and shopping for a new furnace and washers and driers that were destroyed as a result of water that rose several feet in thousands of basements.

When it became evident that help was needed city hall staff began learning just what the ODRAP program was all about. Mayor Goldring wisely asked the Burlington Community Foundation to take the lead on raising funds publicly and administering the ODRAP program while city Council began leaning on the province for a matching funds arrangement.

Burlington, unlike other communities in the province, moved very quickly and had people from the province in the city looking at the extent of the flood damage within three days.

“We were able to give provincial bureaucrats a front row, first-hand look at the damage as we prepared to make our case” said a senior city hall staff member.

The province was listening and the city pressed its case and as they worked their way through the various levels of government they found they were able to suggest to the province that there was a better way to manage the program.

It was clear to everyone that we have only begun to experience what global warming is going to do to us.

There are six heroes in this picture – they went far beyond what most people would have done. Second from the left Nancy Swietek,  one of the insurance professionals who reviewed all the claims for financial support; fourth from the left John Burgess, served as legal counsel the Disaster Relief Committee; sixth from the left, in a stunning dress, Colleen Mulholland who led the team that managed the process of getting funds into the hands of people who needed those dollars, to the right of Mulholland Bruce Russell and Mark Preston also from the insurance community that reviewed all the application and on the far right, Ron Foxcroft who led the fund raising initiative that brought in $905,077 from the public. Each of these people did far more than most realize – the thank you they were given really wasn’t enough. Included in the photograph are Mayor Goldring, Eleanor McMahon, Indira Naidoo-Harris, and Minister Ted McMeekin. .

On Monday we will learn just what the government has done in terms of reshaping and revising the program.  Much of the credit for bringing about the change as quickly as they have – and a year for a change at the provincial level is quick, goes to Ted McMeekin, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, who advised a private meeting earlier in the week that the recommended changes had gone to Cabinet where they were apparently approved.

How deep and how wide the changes are will become known on Monday. The roar of water pouring over the falls at Niagara have to be the mother of all photo ops as the Premier tells the municipal sector what they want to hear.