The devastating Fort McMurray fire of 2016 resulted in approximately $3.7 billion in insured damage . (Photo: Terry Reith)

Canada launches $2B disaster mitigation fund

Ottawa plans to invest $2 billion over the next ten years to prepare communities across the country to better withstand natural hazards such as floods, wildfires, earthquakes and droughts, the Liberal government announced Thursday.

The Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund will support large-scale infrastructure projects – diversion channels, wetland restorations, wildfire barriers, and setback levees – with a minimum cost of $20 million, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna said Friday.

“The effects of climate change are devastating to communities and the economy,” McKenna said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we need to take measures to reduce the potential impacts of natural disasters related to climate change.”

Growing insurance costs

Residents carry groceries and clothes out of canoes as floodwaters surround a home on Grand Lake in New Brunswick on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. THE (Darren Calabrese/CANADIAN PRESS)

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), federal disaster relief spending rose from an average of $40 million a year in the 1970s to an average of $100 million a year in the 1990s.

In the first six years of the 21st century, federal disaster relief spending rose even more to an average of over $600 million a year, according IBC statistics.

In 2013, federal spending hit a record $1.4 billion largely because of the flooding disasters in Ontario and Alberta.

The Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016 resulted in approximately $3.7 billion in insured damage – more than twice the amount of the previous costliest natural disaster on record, IBC statistics show.

This year has already seen record breaking floods in New Brunswick, estimated to cost at least $80 million in damages, and in southern British Columbia.

‘Protect our most precious assets’

A man carries a bag of clothing before leaving his home as floodwaters from the Saint John River continue rising in Grand Lake, N.B. on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. (Darren Calabrese/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The new fund is open to various levels of governments, band councils and First Nation, Inuit, or Métis communities, as well as Canadian public or not-for-profit post-secondary institutions that partner with a Canadian municipality, officials said.

Applicants wishing to be considered for funding under the program will have until July 31, 2018, to submit an expression of interest to Infrastructure Canada, officials said.

McKenna said the fund will allow Canadian communities to be better prepared for climate change impacts and it will ensure essential community services remain in place.

“This program is about coming together to protect our most precious assets: our people, homes, businesses and the communities we are proud to call home,” said Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi.

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