Wildrose MLA Wayne Anderson, the DRP Advocacy Committee, and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark have all been upset about the supposed progress the DRP has been making.

I don’t believe they’ve been upset enough.  I am so disappointed in this government operation that I am now calling for the resignation of the Director of the AEMA Shane Schreiber, and am joining the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association in calling for an independent review of the Disaster Recovery Program.

Minister of Municipal Affairs has shown how out-of-touch he is with the program in his latest statement to the press.  It is obvious he is being fed manipulated information from the AEMA Director, and has no clue what actual progress on the DRP files actually looks like.

Allow me to review how I came to this conclusion.

I have kept a log of the various updates to DRP statuses, particularly for High River.  Here are some strange anomalies I have found:

That wasn’t the only time that happened.  In fact, between mid-August and early-September, 4 more residential DRP files (including tenants) seem to have been found.  This makes the total “found” files since Prentice’s promise to close all files by the summer add up to 11.  Where have these files been since the deadline 22 months ago?

These are just the examples of mismanagement.  Now I get to the anomalies that show misinformation.

Up to mid-April, an application may have been considered fully-funded, and therefore in progress, but it was not considered “open”.  Yet every month following, fully-funded files were considered “open”.  I have to wonder if this was done so that the DRP office could report, during an election, that only 6% of High River files remained open, even though a month after the election that number would suddenly jump to 16% after the NDP took office.

Stranger still is Minister Bilous’s explanation of what “fully-funded” actually means.  He suggests that designation means a claimant has received all the money they are going to get.  To be clear, I don’t believe this is his own personal definition, but rather a definition that has been handed to him.  One has to wonder what the “paid” designation means, if not that the claimant has received all the money they are going to get.

“Open” doesn’t really mean requiring closure.  Based on how DRP has been run, even a closed file can be open again without entering an appeals process.  Interesting to note, while the PCs were in power, the number of “open” files got smaller more quickly.  Once the NDP came to power, the number of “open” files suddenly spiked, and the only way to close them is to force the issue, such as with the small business deadline mentioned.

“Paid” doesn’t really mean applicants have received money.  It means a cheque has been authorized.  It hasn’t necessarily been printed, and certainly doesn’t mean it’s been delivered.  I think.

I don’t believe the definition of the term “fully-funded” Mr. Bilous offered, although I suspect the definition was fed to him.  None of the statistics up to this point verify his proferred definition.  “Fully-Funded” is a particularly confusing term, because what it suggests to me is that those that are not fully-funded have no funding available for them, even though DRP currently has a surplus.  Based off information I've received from the DRP Advocacy Committee, this is not far from true.  Claimants submit their receipts, and hopefully 100% of those receipts get funded; or claimants who can't afford to pay up front submit quotes for work to be done, and hopefully 90% of these quotes get funded (matching Prentice's January Promise).  Those that are in “Administrative Processing” therefore must be files that are open and for whom DRP must lobby government to fund.  Those that are in “Eligibility Review” must be those that are being reviewed as to whether or not they are worth lobbying for.  Those that have “Action Required” must be those that are waiting to enter into either category.  I hope I’m wrong about these, but one thing is for certain; “fully-funded” cannot simply mean claimants in that category have received all they’re going to get.


There is also another designation that hasn't made it to the statistics reports, and that is the term "Complete".  At one point in time "Complete" meant everything that could be done with a file was done, the only thing missing was the issuance of a closure letter.  Why have this designation if not to delay sending closure letters so as to delay potential appeals?

But that's not even the best part; the term "Complete" has also changed as well, the biggest change surrounding then-Minister of Municipal Affairs Ken Hughes.  At one point in time we thought he'd be running for the PC Leadership, and his announcement that all DRP files would be 90% "Complete" by March 31, 2014.  When he realized that wasn't possible, he changed what the word meant; "Complete" now meant that DRP had sent out cheques for 90% of receipts received.  Suddenly lots of small cheques backlog the system, and claimants get confused when they are told their file is "Complete" yet they haven't handed in all their receipts yet.

This is similar to the current issue around the term "Fully-Funded", it is a term that confuses claimants into thinking they've got all the money they're going to get, so why bother continuing on?

All of this results in the steady, albeit slow, increase in the number of “closed” files (to the tune of two or three files each week).  At least that is true in High River, where the DRP Advocacy Committee continues to raise a stink.  If you live anywhere else, your number of “closed” files are actually decreasing.

Meanwhile 2014 DRP files (for the floods that happened in southwestern Alberta) have been delayed by the 2013 backlog, and Calgary has been denied DRP funds to deal with “Snowtember”, yet DRP money is not being completely spent.  I can only conclude one rationale for all these things.

Someone is trying to save their own skin.

If the 2013 DRP files appear to be closing, and the program manages to turn a surplus, your boss, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, is likely to let you to do your work.  He might even give you some leniency for your high rate of staff turnover, the apparently complicated files being closed slowly, and the fact that almost 20% of files go to appeals (much higher than the 10% norm).

Frankly, I might be willing to do the same.  Until I see how I’ve been manipulated.

And make no mistake, Mr. Bilous has been manipulated. I would bet certain staff are counting on the fact that Mr. Bilous may not fully understand the definitions of each category of claim, which is why those definitions keep shifting.  He may agree with a staff member who says “snow is not an abnormal event in Alberta”, despite “Snowtember 2014” being the heaviest snowfall any September has ever seen in the past 130 years.  But the fact is definitions are being manipulated, facts are being blurred, and staff members are keeping their jobs by doing it.

And through it all, somehow one extremely important fact has been lost in the reporting of statistics.  At the end of each statistic is a human being.

A human being who has watched their file move from open to fully-funded to administrative processing to fully-funded to closed and paid back to open again to closed and finally to appeals.  For over 2 full years.

I personally have lost patience, and I don’t even have a DRP claim.  The Disaster Recovery Program is a Disaster in need of Recovery.

The lowest common denominator is not the government; it has changed and DRP has not improved.  The lowest common denominator is not the advocates; they too have changed not only their personnel but their approach.  It's also not the front-lines staff trying to process the claims, as even the Municipal Affairs Report to Legislature said that staff has had a high rate of turnover.  The lowest common denominator is the staff leading the program.  Only they could lose files, redefine categories, and manipulate data to make it look like work was getting done when in fact it hasn’t.  The goal of a good DRP manager should be to work themselves out of a job.  It seems managerial staff in this case are preventing their jobs from being lost, and they’ve managed to do so across a government change through confoundery.

Mr. Bilous must recognize that he has been played, and ask the AEMA Director Shane Schreiber to step aside.  Even he named Mr. Schreiber as the individual who has been the main communicator, so therefore the main manipulator of facts.

91% of Alberta Urban Municipalities don't trust DRP.  This is why they have called for an independent review.  An independent review will allow the rest of the staff to continue working on open files (preferably in a case-management format), and not interrupt their work too much.  But more importantly, it will clarify what exactly is going on in those offices, where data has been manipulated, and what must improve so that those who suffer disasters in the future do not have to contend with a governmental disaster as well.

Thanks to the DRP Advocacy Committee, Mr. Clark, and most recently Mr. Anderson and their colleagues for never giving up.  While we hope every Albertan never needs to use the Disaster Recovery Program, we must feel as though we can count on it if we do need it.

Alberta Urban Municipalities can't.  Neither can I.

Mr. Bilous, fix the DRP.

Last week the Okotoks Town Council began the process of acquiring the Wedderburn land on the north end of town across from Holy Trinity Academy and the St. James Catholic Church.  They want this to be an educational, recreational and cultural facility for the community.

Fist pump.

Council has made it easy on the NDP in Alberta.  In particular one man, David Eggen.

Eggen is the Minister of Education as well as the Minister of Culture and Tourism.  In one decision, Council set the scene for Eggen to make his mark in our region.

10 days ago I sat in an audience listening to Eggen speak to a conference of teachers who all gave up their summer time for the teaching profession.  At that conference, Eggen told us that he had “found” funding for all 232 school infrastructure projects the former PC Government had announced.

Two things on that; first I must never forget that the PCs were in the habit of announcing and never providing all in an effort to save their own political skin.  The former Education Minister is a perfect example of that.

Second, missing from Eggen’s announcement was how much he was banking on future generations to pay for it.  He did say that the NDP were not borrowing for operations, but 232 infrastructure projects aren’t operational projects, they’re capital projects.

So I pulled him aside afterward (he was in a major rush to move on, but to be clear it was obvious he’d rather stay and have a depth of discussion).  We had 60 seconds, but in that 60 seconds we covered a swath.  The first thing he said to me was that he had to borrow through the nose to get that money.

That made the fiscal conservative in me cringe.  I asked him if he really was willing to fund 232 projects that might not fit his philosophy.  That peaked his attention.

“Mr. Eggen, there are school projects approved to be built outside of the communities, sometimes as far as 10 minutes outside of communities.  And you just funded them.”

At that he asked for an example, and I gave him the planned school near Aldersyde which is to serve Okotoks students.  I told him it is in an industrial area, it has inadequate infrastructure for traffic, which will also impact the 10-minute response time the closest firehall will have.  He balked at the idea, and asked me to contact him with more details.  That was the first 40 seconds.  The last 20 are for another blog.

So here are the details.  Okotoks has no water.  It can’t get a commitment on water.  As a result it can’t develop, and that includes schools.  Yet its 26,000 residents keep having babies.  So the Foothills School Division starts looking.  It finds space in the open arms of the M.D. of Foothills by the Legacy Fieldhouse.

This would be the third school project designed to be built outside the Okotoks community.  Davisburg has two schools, one in each school division, and while it could be argued that they serve a different community, that is prime agricultural land that has been eroded to form dots of acreages all over the countryside.  Further, is some instances busses are covering or expected to cover areas on the outskirts of Okotoks.  Much like a crosswalk, the lines separating Okotoks from M.D. do not stop cars, and those people are just as much Okotokians as on the other side of the road.

One outlier is an anomaly.  Two raises an eyebrow.  Three is a trend.  The trend to break up communities is beginning to show.  This is a trend toward shipping students out of a community, and away from the concept of schools as community hubs.  It's a trend to put so much space between neighbours that they no longer need to talk to each other.  So Minister Eggen needs to either agree with this trend the PCs set for him, or stamp it out.  But if he stamped it out, where would this new school go?

Here comes the Okotoks Town Council to save the day!

Not only did they find a site, but they seem to be appealing to both Eggen’s portfolios.  As Minister of Education, he should be thrilled there is now a site that would be basically inside town (remember, those town borders do not a blockade make).  He should further be thrilled with the idea of a cultural space adjacent to it.  It meets the philosophy of kids staying in the community they live in, and studying in a place that is a community hub.

So what’s the problem?  One minor hurdle is that the M.D. needs to agree.  That should be a minor issue, but there are some political issues at play that make it a slight challenge.  Another is our Wildrose MLA; will he be more interested in the fact that money is being borrowed to build this school, something that is completely anti-Wildrose, or will he see the necessity of having kids go to school in town and give Eggen a thumbs-up?  My feel of the current Wildrose opposition is it’s the same as the old one; opposition for opposition’s sake.

Those aren’t the deciding issues, though.  Its whether or not Eggen has the political will to stop something he’s already funded.  Its whether or not Eggen is just trying to tie up the PCs loose ends, or if he intends on righting the ship.  Its whether or not Eggen is willing to stand for something.  Its whether or not Eggen is willing to make a stand now, because the Foothills School Division cannot wait for a school for five years.  They need it now.

I’d like to think he is.  But the ball isn’t in my court, it’s in his.

Your Alberta Party representative in Highwood wants students to go to school in their communities, and not be bussed out.  Your Alberta Party representative in Highwood wants schools to be community hubs.  Your Alberta Party representative is giving the Okotoks Town Council a big fist pump.

So I call on the Alberta NDP Government, namely Minister Eggen, to endorse this shift to a school community hub, and to help Okotoks get the land to make it happen and quickly.  After that, perhaps Minister Eggen should review all the school projects he just funded, and where construction or the tendering process hasn’t already commenced, review if they meet his philosophy of what schools should be.  I’d suspect that he might find more than one that doesn’t meet his standards.

While he does, he should tell us how much we’re paying for it.  Or rather, tell us how much the next generations will be paying for it.  I won’t necessarily be opposing, but I want to hear the NDP plan for making it easier for the next generations to cover the tab.  So far I haven’t heard it.

Oh, and I hope that while Eggen is talking about the need for this school that he also talks about why this issue came up in the first place, and help Okotoks get a commitment for the Water For Life program.

Kudos to the Okotoks Town Council for their progressive thinking.  It’s time for everyone to get back to building community.