Defence Minister Peter MacKay toured the flood-ravaged Richelieu Valley south of Montreal on Wednesday, but his appearance did little to tamp down a controversy over the military not taking a role in the eventual flood cleanup.
While hundreds of Canadian troops have been in the area for weeks sandbagging and helping out locals, the Quebec provincial government has requested that the troops stick around to help with the aftermath, too.
The request comes as both the provincial and federal governments deal with anger and resentment over the way the flooding of 3,000 local homes has been handled by authorities in both Quebec City and Ottawa.
The political acrimony reached a tipping point earlier this week, when the Quebec government leaked a letter from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews which suggested that the military shouldn't be counted on for the cleanup.
On Wednesday, MacKay appeared to soften that message, but he stopped short of committing the military to the flood zone over a longer term.
"We've taken the decision, in consultation with the mayors (and) in consultation certainly with our commanders on the ground, that we will be here through the weekend," said MacKay, who also donned a pair of hip-waiters and saw the flood zone first-hand during his time in the community.
The minister added that staff would work through the weekend and "assess, day to day, how we will respond with respect to future efforts."
But in the government letter, which was signed by Toews and sent to his provincial counterpart on May 20, the language was more black and white.
"As you can appreciate, the role of the Canadian Forces is principally based on defence activities and, as a result, they must maintain a capacity to act in that regard when events occur in other provinces or overseas," Toews told Robert Dutil.
"Furthermore, the services you're asking for -- if they were authorized -- would place the Canadian Forces in competition with the private sector, at the local or provincial level, which could perform this type of repair work."
MacKay also declined to say exactly how long the troops would remain, saying instead that "we are going to continue to work in close collaboration with everyone."
Still, in recent days, an extra 250 reserves have been sent to the zone, doubling the troop numbers to 500.
While the soldiers have been welcomed by locals, the effort from Ottawa hasn't impressed others like Kathleen Lord, a 44-year-old resident of St-Blaise-sur-Richelieu.
In fact, some say that Prime Minister Stephen Harper should also come to Quebec, since he has recently toured the flood area in Manitoba and the fire zone in northern Alberta.
"We didn't vote Conservative in the last election and never do," Lord told The Canadian Press.
"I guess (Harper) doesn't feel welcome. Maybe he's being told it's not that bad and we're dealing with it because we've lived all our lives on the river and maybe we're so tired that we're not making enough noise."
Others, like 53-year-old resident Mario Courchesne, said that politics mattered little in a time of crisis.
He told CP that what he really needed was an extra "pair of arms" and not political leaders "who make great speeches."
"We've started to do our own cleanup because if we wait for the authorities we'll still be waiting until next fall."
