Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements

Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) is a program of the Government of Canada that provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial governments following large-scale natural disasters.

Provinces can apply to the program for assistance when eligible costs exceed one dollar per capita,[1] at which point the federal government will share 50% of the cost. If the costs exceed $3 per capita this rises to 75%, and when costs reach $5 per capita, the federal government is required to pay 90 per cent of the costs.[2][3]

Since its inception in 1970, a 2011–12 report stated that the program had paid out $2 billion in post-disaster assistance.[4] Following the 2013 Alberta floods, $2 billion was earmarked for the province and the government sought a $689-million increase in funding for the program from parliament.[5]

The program has come under criticism for favouring some provinces over others, and for not including public health emergencies in its remit.[6]

DFAA Payments 2007 to 2011[4]
Province/Territory $ millions
British Columbia 72
Alberta 68
Northwest Territories 60
Yukon 32
Nunavut 30
Saskatchewan 17
Manitoba 12
Ontario 3
Quebec 2
New Brunswick 1
Nova Scotia 1
Prince Edward Island 0
Newfoundland and Labrador 0
TOTAL 298

Events that have received funding include 1996 Saguenay Flood, 1997 Red River Flood, 2010 Hurricane Igor in Newfoundland and the 2011 Assiniboine River Flood.

References

  1. ↑ Fekete, Jason (June 27, 2013). "Alberta flooding unlikely to stymie federal plans to slay deficit". Postmedia Network. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Flanagan, Tom (June 27, 2013). "Some hard-headed thinking about living by the water". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)". Government of Canada. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "2011 - 20 12 Evaluation of the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement s Program". Public Safety Canada. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth (Nov 7, 2013). "Alberta to get $2B in federal flood clean up relief, supplementary estimates reveal". iPolitics. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Robert (2006). Rules, Rules, Rules, Rules: Multilevel Regulatory Governance. University of Toronto Press. p. 342. ISBN 9780802038586. Retrieved 9 February 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

External links