It's my understanding that it's always been the metric, but I'm not sure. Someone from Public Safety Canada might know more about the history of the program. I'm not sure if I have an opinion on whether it's the best way. There are a lot of ways it could be done. This one serves as a deductible, where the federal government doesn't step in until it's sufficiently severe to impact the finances or the fiscal capacity of the province or territory. I understand that it could be severe locally but not severe enough provincially or territorially to trigger the disaster financial assistance.
