Calgary emergency funding needs to be replenished, CEMA chief says

The head of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency says he hopes Ottawa will cover the cost of replenishing supplies the city is using to help Fort McMurray.

Tom Sampson told city council this morning he wants to ensure his team is ready if another emergency crops up.

The chiefsaid the city is glad to help in a crisis but the task force is using millions of dollars in supplies in Fort McMurray.

"We have a problem in thesense that we have to restock that cache," he said. "We've got to be ready."

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Sampson said he wants the federal government to replenish those supplies soon because his job is to ensure his team is ready.

"We did the right thing when Albertans were in trouble, and frankly the federal government should write a cheque and say 'we'll replace everything that you've got damaged and anything that you're missing and we'll do it now,' " he said.

Sampson said he's been in touch with Public Safety Canada about Canada Task Force 2's (CTF2) efforts in Fort McMurray.

Nenshinot worried

The lion's share of disaster assistance dollars come from the federal government, but that cash can be a long time coming. Mayor Naheed Nenshi, however,saidhe isn't worried if it takes time for Ottawa to pay up.

"You know the City of Calgary is in a good cash position, we're always in a good cash position and if the city has to lend money to CEMA to replenish the cupboard, we'll do that," Nenshi said.

Nenshi saidpast disasters like Calgary's 2013 flood show that while governments argue about who spent what, eventually these things do get sorted out.

Sampson said CTF2 needs about $3 million to resupply its cache.

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