Premier’s comments spark Steinbach council frustration

An announcement made by Premier Wab Kinew saying requests for disaster relief will be honoured even if the standard terms on the government’s website aren’t met, has prompted anger and frustration on Steinbach city council who’s seen requests for assistance for local residents denied twice in consecutive years.

Kinew made the announcement in Selkirk following the flooding that impacted rural Manitoba in areas like Stonewall and Swan River.

Kinew told reporters that even those who could have purchased insurance but didn’t, could qualify for assistance.

“If you have somebody who’s lived in a community for eight or nine decades and they’ve never seen this kind of flooding, it’s reasonable to expect that folks in that area wouldn’t put up flood protection or they wouldn’t purchase overland flood insurance,” he said.

A provincial regulation states that an expense is not eligible for disaster financial assistance if adequate insurance to cover the expense was available for purchase in the impacted region or community.

Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk pulled up a copy of a Winnipeg Free Press article on the issue as the June 16 council meeting was set to conclude.

He asked councillors if they’d be willing to draft a resolution calling on the province to reconsider Steinbach’s request for disaster financial assistance in light of the premier’s recent comments.

“These were rain events that we’re not used to as well,” he said of the downpours that caused flooding in the city in the fall of 2024 and again in 2025. “It’s not normal to get over six inches of rain in a manner of a couple of hours.”

Coun. Michael Zwaagstra made the motion that the city forward a letter to the province.

“We applied for disaster financial assistance in good faith, trusting that the province would take our application seriously and give it due consideration,” he said.

He said after Steinbach was denied, Kinew gave a radio interview where he glibly suggested that Steinbach simply needs better insurance brokers.

“So even though (some) residents either couldn’t get insurance or were under insured because there’s a limited amount of insurance they would get, the premier’s response was to rely on technicalities,” he said.

Zwaagstra said Steinbach deserves to be treated like anyone else, adding he doesn’t begrudge assistance to those in other parts of the province who were recently impacted.

“They should get help,” he said. “Absolutely the province should be helping.”

“We’re not asking for special treatment,” he added. “We’re just asking to be treated fairly. We’re happy that other parts of the province are going to get relief, but our residents should get similar relief.”

Zwaagstra said the same rules should apply to everyone.

“I don’t like it when other levels of government, in this case the province, makes stuff up on the fly and that’s what’s happened here,” he said. “If things are going to be made up and the rules are going to be changed, then at the bare minimum treat all municipalities fairly.

Coun. Damian Penner seconded the motion, saying Steinbach too faced unprecedented rainfall.

“We need to do everything in our power and our ability to hold the provincial government to their new standard that they have publicly said,” he said.

Mayor Earl Funk agreed and said consistency is key.

“If disaster financial assistance has been changed, it’s easier to get, the threshold is less, there’s no qualifications anymore, no restrictions, it should be the same for all Manitobans,” he said. “I feel devastated for the people in Manitoba that are facing this flood because I saw it firsthand in our residents.”

“We all belong to Manitoba,” he added. “If this is good for one Manitoban it’s good for all Manitobans.”

– with files from the Winnipeg Free Press