For the first time since a massive flood washed through downtown Princeton, B.C., nearly two years ago, the federal government paid a visit to the community.
On Wednesday, federal minister of emergency preparedness Bill Blair was on the ground touring some the hardest-hit areas and infrastructure.
“I’ve had a number of conversations. We recognize the challenges that Princeton is facing and some of the very significant investments that are going to have to be made to restore the infrastructure of this community,” said Blair.
“It’s important that we’ve done right and I really felt it was important to come up, have an opportunity to meet with Coyne and his team and look at some of the damages they’ve faced. I need help understanding how we can help and what we need to do.”
Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne and city officials gave the minister a first-hand look at just how far the community has come since floods ravaged the downtown area in November of 2021.
“It could’ve happened sooner, I’ll say that. That was frustration not only of myself but our community. My community was asking why isn’t the federal government coming,” said Coyne.
“The primary thing was to show the minister what we’ve been going through and where we’ve come from, and where we’re at today. I think that’s the key is to show the resiliency of our community and how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the time that we’ve been dealing with this situation.”
However, one concern that is top of mind for locals and officials is that most of the town is still under a boil water advisory.
“I’m pissed, to be honest. It’s a year and half, almost, since this happened and we are no closer now than we were a day after the flood to get our water up and running,” said Coyne.
“We need to get our act together and we need to start working together on this because this is not acceptable. This is not a third world nation and the fact that communities like ours and across the country are facing these issues is just B.S., as far as I am concerned.”
Coyne went on to say that the community has received pushback ‘from the local health authority about their water situation’, adding that it may be months until the boil water advisory is rescinded.
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“I’m pretty frustrated with our water situation. I’m very frustrated with the level of bureaucracy getting in the way of our water situation,” added Coyne.
“I’m concerned with the fact that the people that are making decisions about our water are now questioning some of our qualified engineers on what our water situation is. And that to me is insulting not only to me, but to my team, my community and those qualified to do their jobs.”
The over $4-million water treatment facility, located east of town, is one of the major rebuild projects that the town needs to complete.
Until that facility is up and running, about 70 per cent of residents will have to continue to boil their water.
“We understand the water challenges that this community is facing. There’s a number of other significant infrastructure impacts,” said Blair during his tour.
“It’s the infrastructure that is so incredibly expensive and so critical for our community. And that’s one of the reasons I’m grateful to come here and have these people who are responsible to this community for that infrastructure and to have them point out what needs to be done.”
Blair added that he plans to bring this information back to his conversations with the province and officials in Ottawa.
Meanwhile, the community has yet to receive all of the promised funding to help finish repairs.
“You probably recall, we committed close to $5 billion for that recovery. But that’s not the full cost of the recovery, people have incurred significant expenses themselves. They’ve gone to their insurance, the province themselves have had to put in a lot of resources,” said Blair.
“It was an incredibly expensive disaster event for the province of British Columbia and for this country. One of my jobs is to make sure that as we invest public dollars back into that rebuild, we do it with an idea of an investment and greater strength and resiliency for the future, so that we don’t have to keep doing over and over.”
Blair said part of the reason for his visit was because he has worked hand in hand with the province through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program.
The province assesses and determines what will be covered according to eligibility criteria that the federal government provides. The province then makes some payments and then submit the bills back to the federal government.
“We pay about 90 per cent of those monies under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program,” said Blair.
According to Blair, this process can take up to three years to complete.
However, he has been working closely with the provincial government to expedite the process in order to get the money to communities like Princeton faster.
“Very aware of the urgency of communities and they need that money,” added Blair
“I was going to Merritt and there was still an awful lot of people still living in motels and hotels, and that’s a tough situation to be in for a year. We see that as a priority and we’re moving that money as quickly as possible.”
For now, there is no timeline as to when Princeton will receive more of that funding.
“The lessons we learned from the atmospheric river is that we need to make a way so that funding makes it to the communities that need it sooner and faster. Hopefully we can cut through some of the bureaucracy that stands on all of our levels of government,” said Coyne.
“Having the minister come today shows that we have a commitment at the federal level to that principle.”
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