It hasn't happened yet, but the federal government is looking at making provinces and municipalities foot the bill for services provided by national troops during a natural disaster.

"Let's hope it doesn't happen."

Longtime Vancouver City councillor Raymond Louie says whether it's floods, fires or earthquakes, canadians expect national support.

"The federal government is doing their part to try to manage their budget, but they must also realize that municipalities have also been doing their part. By forcing municipalities to shoulder these types of emergencies down to their budgets when there's very little capacity --contingency-- in our initial budgets, that it's completely inappropriate."
 
In recent years, costs linked to emergency services have been waived, but the Department of Defence is indicating that may stop.