No help in sight for rebuilding

Cape Breton and Port aux Basques businesses say repairs will cost millions, and so far relief programs aren't helping them

Colin Allen is still making mortgage payments even though the building is no longer there.

He had just finished up $80,000 in renovations— brand new windows and siding—on a multi-unit apartment building in Port aux Basques the week before tropical storm Fiona. Then the waves came. The building was damaged so badly it had to be demolished.

The seven families who lived there have dispersed, finding temporary shelter where they can.

Allen told Saltwire one of his tenants, an 85-year-old woman, had to move to a house further down the street, renting a one-room flat right next to the ocean.

“I talked to her the other day,” he said, “and she was crying. Every time a storm comes in, she can’t sleep. She’s terrified.”

Allen would like to rebuild. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to.

“I’m looking at about $2 million to replace that building,” he said.

His insurance won’t look at him.

It’s frustrating.

“They were quick enough to take my money in the first place,” he said. “They knew the building was close to the ocean. Now they’re not covering my losses because it was a sea surge.”

Four months after Fiona he still doesn’t know if he will qualify for any of the government-funded relief programs, or even if he will fit the criteria for the ones that are available.

He’s applied to the Hurricane Fiona Financial Assistance Program available from the Newfoundland and Labrador government. That fund was established to help not only residential property owners and small businesses, but municipalities and notfor-profit organizations.

Applications to that program, were due on Jan. 31.

According to the media relations manager for the Department of Justice and Public Safety, more than 200 applications have been received for assistance from that fund, with 14 of these being small business applications.

So far, however, Allen has no word on where his application is in the queue, when a decision will be made in his case, or if he will get any money at all.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is also accepting applications for assistance from the federal government’s $300 million Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund.

However, according to information on the ACOA webpage, eligible applicants include: not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, economic associations, post-secondary schools and Indigenous organizations. For businesses impacted by Fiona, the agency’s website says this: “Has your business been impacted by Hurricane Fiona? If so, contact ACOA to discuss your needs and see how we can help you navigate the various measures currently available."

The waiting is just frustrating, said Allen.

It leaves him in limbo, making those monthly mortgage payments on a business that no longer generates revenue, and still not able to decide if or when he will be able to rebuild.

TRYING TO BUILD BACK BETTER

Across the Gulf, in the community of Neil’s Harbour, Osborne Burke is feeling just as frustrated.

The manager of Victoria Fisheries Co-operative has a tight deadline to repair the damages from Fiona.

Lobster and crab season starts in April and he hopes to have the usual 100 or so seasonal workers back on the job by the middle of that month.

There’s still a lot to do, and challenges to get it done.

To date, he said, they’re calculating $4.5 million for repairs.

They’ve filed claims with their insurance, but the final settlement likely won’t cover 100 percent of the repair bill, he said.

The Co-op is also aiming to build back stronger.

“We got wooden walls and we’re replacing with concrete to avoid a failure in the future,” Burke said. “We're putting reinforced exterior doors over and above our current doors on the processing facility.”

It’s extra expenses they will have to cover, he said, noting the insurance company will only cover some of the costs of replacing original structure.

With the certainty of other storms to come, however, Burke said the company wanted to build stronger to prevent damage in the future.

“Even though we're going to try and prevent future losses or reduce the impact, there’s no allowance for that.”

He’s not so confident, however, that federal government relief programs will be any help to the business.

The only government agency Burke has been able to get help from so far is ACOA. They’ve provided $1 million, but it’s a loan that will have to be paid back when the company finally settles with its insurance claims.

It’s only thanks to their bank, he said, that they’ve been able to get the repairs started to meet that April deadline to be back in operation.

“Only for the goodness of Bank of Montreal that we're using our operating line of credit—and we're paying interest on that—we wouldn't be able to have the contractors doing what they have been doing. That’s how we’re paying our contractors to keep going,” he said.

Asked about Fiona relief funding programs for the seafood industry in Nova Scotia, a spokesperson for the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture replied: “The Fiona Aquaculture Disaster Assistance Program helps sea farmers recover some of the extraordinary costs they faced in the wake of the storm, including damage to equipment and infrastructure on land and in the water, product/crop losses in the water and stored on land, along with clean-up and fuel costs they incurred during extended power outages.

“This support comes from the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (DFAA) program which includes both provincial and federal money. The application form also gives operators access to any future federal and provincial assistance programs as they’re developed - including the $40 million committed by ACOA for Atlantic Canadian shellfish operators.

The province of Nova Scotia also has a disaster relief program for small businesses affected by Fiona.

However, it only provides up to $200,000 for repair and replacement costs.

Eligibility for funding is also based on very specific criteria, including, “you’re a sole proprietor or own at least 50 per cent of the business and you’re its full-time, day-to-day manager (and) the yearly gross revenue is at least $10,000 and not more than $2,000,000

Victoria Fisheries Co-op likely won’t fit those criteria.

WHY NOT US?

Burke’s only hope is that Ottawa will find a way to help larger businesses cover some of those costs or repair and building back better.

“We’re not looking for anything extra,” he said, “just enough to put our facility back the way it was, to be operational for April, to be able to process the crab and lobster that our harvesters are going to land and put $3.5 million in wages back into the community for another season,” he said.

Besides, said Burke, “We didn’t ask for this damage.”

In Port aux Basques, Allen can’t do much else right now except wait for the province to decide if they will help.

What makes this situation even more difficult, he added, is the lack of information.

He filed an application with the province a week after the storm and, according to Allen, he has been given no information since.

“Not even an e-mail,” he said. “No one has reached out to me. I got no figures, no idea of what they’re going to do.”

What was once an asset, he said, has now become a liability for him.

"You got local business people who are investors in their community that are just being left in the dark," he said.

As for the federal government, Allen said the speed of decision making on this situation angers him even more, especially when it seems Ottawa has no trouble acting quickly in other cases.

“What pisses me off the most, and I get so mad thinking about it, is the money that goes over to Ukraine and other countries with the snap of a finger, while we’re here trying to survive and we can’t even get help from our own government.

“There doesn’t seem to be any rush to help people out here.”