My
solution for speeding up Perth-Andover flood ‘mitigation’
by
Robert LaFrance
As one who was in the area and
writing for newspapers and radio newscasts when the floods of 1987 and 1993
arrived in Perth-Andover, I can recall them clearly – far too clearly. In both
cases we had to evacuate my Aunt Ella from Perth so she could come down here to
Kincardine and spoil my kids and my dog. Also, she didn’t like fried trout,
meaning she must have been either a Communist or one a them vee-ganz (vegans). Or both.
What seemed to be different in 1993
was that the two top levels of government seemed eager to get things resolved –
to tell people what was going on. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong – too
bizarre a thought to entertain – but if I remember right, those whose houses
were to be moved in the fall knew by the end of July, and that took a load of
their minds.
It’s hard for me, living on a
mountain in the Scotch Colony, to appreciate what it is like for a family to be
forced out of their home by floodwater, and still not know by late July whether
they will be moving back in, building a new house, moving into an apartment (if
they can find one), buying a house, or having their house moved. Of course
there is always the option of taking the government’s cheque for the estimated
value of their flooded home, seeing it demolished, and moving to Whitecourt,
Alberta.
It’s the uncertainty that is the
worst, according to many of those I talked to. Most places saw everything in
their basements ruined by floodwater, often mixed with sewerage and/or oil, so
should they replace all that and hope it won’t flood again? I can see where
there’s not a lot of incentive to do that, because if the government gets its
finger out and decides to move that house, what of the new furnace, water pump,
etc.? I was there in 1993 when the movers took houses to higher ground, and in
no case did I see any furnace dangling from the bottom of a house being moved.
It would have been like taking a flatbed truck-trailer (or trailer-truck if you
prefer) and moving a whale with its guts hanging out.
It was reported for a month or more
that the FM committee would be producing ‘an interim report’ by June 30, and
most people, including the Perth-Andover Village Council and Mayor Terry
Ritchie, hoped that it would identify the houses to be moved so displaced
families would finally KNOW, but it turned out that this interim report was one
of those little fish called ‘an internal government document’.
CSIS, MI6, or the CIA might be justified in keeping
documents like that secret, but not when it involves the well-being of
Perth-Andover families. Call it ‘an internal document’ all they like, the fact
is that it’s a secret document, and there’s no good reason for the secrecy. And
by the way, in the weeks leading up to June 30, no one in government ever
mentioned it would be a secret document.
There are quite a few Perth-Andover residents on the
Mitigation Study committee, so one would hope they will make sure the
government won’t do a SJAM or a WLMK. Know what those are? Delays, and I just
coined the acronyms myself. The first refers to Sir John A. Macdonald, who was
known as ‘Old Tomorrow’ meaning he was a world-class procrastinator, and the
second acronym refers to William Lyin’ Mackenzie King, whose motto was “We will
think about doing that – in a month or two and then put it off until the wheat
crop comes in”.
Greg Inman and Jim Pickett are, I think, members of
the committee, as are several other local residents. It would be hard to
imagine Greg and Jim, whose houses were among those moved out of the flood zone
in 1993, urging government not to move houses, and I’m sure Allison McPhail and
Rick Beaulieu, who saw their businesses drowned in this year’s flood, aren’t
about to say don’t move any buildings to higher ground.
Although I am sure we can count on government to do
the right things and not let politics, finances, or the phases of the moon
affect their decisions, it could be they need a bit of ‘encouragement’.
Although sometimes even when a government decision is shown clearly to be wrong
(Waterville hospital) they sometimes stick right to their pigheaded guns, I am
sure Perth-Andover flooding will be dealt with sensibly.
Never one to complain
without offering a solution, here’s mine: How about if all those members of the
provincially organized ‘Flood Mitigation Study’ and its committee – the ones
who don’t already live here - move into apartments – or tents, or cabins -
around Perth-Andover until all the final (correct) decisions are made? If they
say a certain house is liveable, let THEM live in it for a while. To paraphrase
Mark Twain, that should concentrate their thoughts nicely and speed things up.-END-
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