Prime Minister Stephen Harper travelled to flood-ravaged Newfoundland on Friday to see the damage from post-tropical storm Chantal first-hand. But Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is fuming the Prime Minister's Office failed to inform him of the visit in advance.
Harper's office revealed his plan to visit the province about two hours before he was to board an aircraft in St. John's.
"We just heard this morning through the media that he was coming to town,'' Williams told The Canadian Press in an interview.
"Our (federal and provincial) ministers were talking last night on the phone and there was no mention made of the PM coming to town. So I'm just disappointed. In an emergency situation like this, at least the common courtesy of a phone call to say he was visiting ... I could have attended at the site with him.''
Williams accused the prime minister of being slow to visit the flood-affected sites in the eastern part of the province.
He noted that Harper had been in Prince Edward Island for a Tory caucus meeting that started the same day.
"The prime minister was only an hour-and-a-half away, but I never received a phone call during those 72 hours,'' he said.
"It would be nice in situations like this if leaders, especially the prime minister of the country, can rise above other differences ... because when people's homes are being washed away and their lives are being washed away before their very eyes, that's the time that they see their government there to support them.
"I think his caucus meeting was more important to him.''
Williams and Harper have been at loggerheads over offshore energy revenue for months.
Williams says Harper reneged on his promise to prevent the province's offshore revenue from being clawed back under the federal equalization formula.
Harper said he decided to visit the province because Tory MP Fabian Manning, whose riding was damaged by the storm, couldn't make it to the strategy session in P.E.I.
"Fabian doesn't miss caucuses very often, so I thought I should come here and see the damage," he told reporters in Dunville, which is located on the eastern shore of Placentia Bay, about 90 kilometres west of St. John's.
"It's pretty severe in spots, but the town and everyone seem to be pretty on top of getting it fixed," said Harper, who spent about an hour in the community.
At least 10 communities were left partially flooded and heavily damaged by Chantal's powerful winds and heavy rains.
Both the province and Ottawa have said they will be stepping up to the plate with money for cleanup and repairs, which is expected cost in the millions of dollars.
Harper said there is a federal program that will hand over advance cash for those whose property was damaged, but it's up to the provincial government to send the bills to Ottawa.
"We just want to be here to assure people that we're going to help and get everything done. People seem in good spirits, considering."
But Williams said the province is still waiting for compensation in the aftermath of the Stephenville flood in September 2005.
A spokesman for the prime minister told CP that Ottawa is still waiting to receive paperwork for the compensation.
Harper is also scheduled to appear at a business roundtable in Moncton, N.B. on Friday afternoon.
Later in the day, he is expected to attend a barbecue hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in Egerton, N.S.
With files from The Canadian Press
