Marit Stiles and Niagara MPPs call for immediate disaster relief funding

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is calling on the province Thursday to immediately expand the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians Program (DRAO) to support everyone impacted by the floods in the Niagara region.

Stiles says that she and her caucus wrote to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack on Wednesday, stressing that residents can no longer wait for flood relief. 

“If you have been impacted by the floods, you should not have to fight the government to get help,” she says.

“In St. Catharines, across the Niagara region, in Ottawa, in Sudbury, all across this province, neighbours are stepping up for one another. But charity cannot replace what the government is supposed to do.”

MPP Jennie Stevens says between July 21 and Aug 2., St. Catharines was hit by three separate storms, with some areas receiving almost 400 mm of rain, impacting thousands of residents, infrastructure and prompting the city to declare a state of emergency.

“Minister Flack, I am asking you to pay attention to who is still struggling. I have heard from seniors on fixed incomes who have lost furnaces, appliances and decades of personal belonging,” Stevens says.

“They are facing cleanup and insurance costs they simply cannot absorb. This is exactly why the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians Program exists. Your own guidelines say DRAO is designed to help people get back on their feet. It contains special provisions for low-income households, waiving the $500 deductible and covering sewer back-ups. Today, my Niagara colleagues are here with me and I am asking this government to stop talking about DRAO as only it is about overland flooding.”

WATCH MORE: Repeated flooding raises infrastructure concerns in St. Catharines

Stevens says the Ontario government’s response has not matched the scale of this disaster.

“Provide the relief our residents need and prove to St. Catharines that the provincial government will actually and is actually listening and will be there. Do not let this fall on deaf ears any longer,” she says.

On Tuesday, nearly 29,500 people were called as part of St. Catharines’ Telephone Town Hall about flood recovery, with 4,477 people participating in the call.

The City of St. Catharines hosted a Telephone Town Hall between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., providing residents with a chance to ask questions and hear answers directly from city staff.

Residents asked questions about the emergency flood alleviation program (FLAP), ongoing maintenance and upkeep of storm sewers, catch basins, grates and culverts ahead of storms. 

Other topics included financial assistance and support from upper levels of government, misinformation, overflows in storms and some concerns about water billing impacts that led to some misinformation online.

The City of St. Catharines says FLAP was one of the most common questions as residents are looking to that program for protection.

The city says that they have had thousands of applications for this program since the storms.

On Monday night, council approved $20 million in funding to try and support the significant increase in demand.  

WATCH MORE: St. Catharines mayor addresses recent flooding, outlines path forward