The provincial NDP made a visit to Yorkton in the past week to keep track of the city's status cleaning up after the Canada Day storm. MLA Trent Wotherspoon, finance critic for the NDP, toured around the city and spoke to people about what was going on, and some of their main concerns in the aftermath of the flood.
"It's important that we keep in touch to make sure that the response and any assistance we can provide is provided," Wotherspoon says.
The tour of the city provided a glimpse of some people with severe damage and what Wotherspoon describes as a potentially hopeless situation for many people. However, in saying that, Wotherspoon believes the community deserves praise for coming together to help those who suffered most in the aftermath.
"It's incredibly uplifting to see the community rally behind the way that they have, to come together and start to repair and rehabilitate and provide some of the emergency needs that they have," says Wotherspoon.
He also singles out Mayor James Wilson, city council, and emergency services for their planning in the aftermath. Wotherspoon credits the city for considering long term needs as well as the immediate aftermath.
"They're identifying some of the long term needs that are going to be needed to planned for as well, when it comes to housing and making sure the plan they have in place now is sustainable and it adapts to ensure individuals and families have their needs met," Wotherspoon says.
While Wotherspoon has nothing but praise for the community, on the provincial level Wotherspoon believes that more needs to be done. He says that the money from disaster assistance and similar programs needs to start flowing immediately. He also believes that the programs need to cover more than they do, including food items.
"I chatted with a young mother and family here this morning, who had a huge loss of meats, in some cases they had a side of beef which they saved for and purchased. Now that was in the freezer and damaged, and in fact they don't have the means or resources to provide for themselves right now, through no fault of their own," Wotherspoon says.
At the current time, Wotherspoon says that 50 per cent of the assessed damages need to start flowing to people affected by the disaster, so they can start to rebuild.
"We don't need to have barriers as to whether someone has access to credit, or other tools on that front, we need to make sure people can get the recovery underway and do so in a very efficient and economical fashion," Wotherspoon says.
Wotherspoon admits that the price for disaster recovery, not just in Yorkton but across the province, will be a large one. As a result, he hopes that Premier Brad Wall will make a case for federal dollars for the entire province's disaster recovery.
With the storms throughout the province this summer, Wotherspoon worries that this might not be the end.
"One of my greatest concerns is that there is all this moisture in the air and all this moisture in the fields, the question is, are we through this kind of weather system yet? I think that many would suggest that there is a risk of further damage, and that is a huge concern. I don't know if this is the extent of the damage, I hope that it is," Wotherspoon says.
