Trudeau Says British Columbia Floods Show Impacts of Climate Change “Sooner Than Expected” | The Canadian News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the extreme weather seen this year in British Columbia and other parts of Canada shows that the impacts of climate change have come “earlier than expected and are devastating.”

During an emergency debate in the House of Commons Wednesday night, Trudeau thanked local, provincial and federal first responders for their efforts to help BC recover from devastating floods and landslides, while securing local MPs that more help is on the way.

He also pointed to ongoing or developing storms in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada this week as further evidence that more investment is needed in climate change mitigation, and admitted that the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund is “ in excess”.

The fund was launched in 2018 and committed $ 2 billion over 10 years to infrastructure projects that would make communities more resilient to the effects of climate change. An additional $ 1.37 billion was added to the 2021 budget, to be spread over 12 years.

“We will continue to increase funding as we help communities and continue to help Canadians get through these tough times,” Trudeau said.

He also assured those in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland that the federal government will support them as those provinces face a crisis of their own from a storm that has washed away roads and bridges.

Nova Scotia declared a state of emergency in two counties on Tuesday, and in Newfoundland and Labrador, the southwestern town of Channel-Port aux Basques was cut off due to flooding.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said flooding in Canada already results in more than $ 1 billion in damage on average annually, but said damage in British Columbia this month “will significantly increase this average.”

He added that 97 percent of federal funding for rebuilding the impacts of climate change since 1970 has been incurred in the past 25 years, underscoring the need for more investment.

“It is clear that we need to make more significant investments to help our provincial and territorial partners build critical infrastructure that is sustainable, resilient and adaptable to the new climate reality,” said Blair.

He also said that the way Canada prepares for weather events must be changed, including improving public warning systems. The public alert system in British Columbia has been criticized for failing to warn residents well in advance of impending rain.

“We can lean into the future … and change the way we prepare for these events,” said Blair.

“There is a national consensus that more must be done.”

The debate began at 6:30 pm EST and is expected to last until midnight. The request for debate was supported by Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens.

It started with Vancouver Island Green MP Elizabeth May saying that there must be a national effort to address climate change and its impacts.

“There is no place that is safe and secure … in a weather emergency,” he said.

Conservative Abbotsford MP Ed Fast later spoke about the effects of the rain on BC and his constituency.

“We were told that a historic weather event was coming,” he said. “We had no idea how bad or devastating [it would be]. “

At least 300mm of rain fell in the province, setting records in 20 communities, according to Fast.

The storm caused at least four deaths, about 17,000 BC residents evacuated and about 2,000 carcasses, Fast said, as well as numerous landslides and closed roads.

Fast said there are “serious economic consequences” from the disaster, including the affected CP and CN rails, although CP Rail started again on Wednesday and CN Rail will start on Thursday.

The federal government has already sent more than 500 soldiers to British Columbia to assist in recovery efforts.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said events in British Columbia showed not only that the climate crisis was no longer a “problem for the future,” but also showed how the liberal government’s “nice words” about fighting climate change have not led to real action.

However, he avoided a one-off question from May on whether he would support the cancellation of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and the BC LNG project, actions that May said would anger provincial PND leaders there.

Instead, Singh said the government should focus on ending subsidies for the oil and gas industry while delivering on promises to invest more in mitigation and prevention infrastructure.

MPs Fast and other Conservatives, including party leader Erin O’Toole, rejected questions they received about how to address fossil fuel emissions and other climate change measures, saying that the people of British Columbia and other affected communities needed help. first.

“I’m not trying to say that this is not an important question, but I would say that it is not what we are facing right away at this point,” said Marc Dalton, MP for the BC leadership of Pitt Meadows – Maple Ridge.

The emergency debate comes as three new storms are expected to hit British Columbia and are expected to be the same type that put the province in a state of emergency: atmospheric rivers.

An atmospheric river is when a large, narrow stream of vapor travels through the sky and can cause higher amounts of rainfall than normal.

British Columbia global meteorologist Kristi Gordon says the next three storms to hit British Columbia are expected to generate more than 200 percent above the average rainfall the province sees in the fall, putting November at a unprecedented territory in terms of rainfall.

The first in the series of storms will hit the British Columbia coast Wednesday night, with the heaviest precipitation expected from Wednesday night through early Friday.

“That’s not good news,” Fast said. “We are not done with this yet.”

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, particularly near the mountains. It also includes the Sea to Sky and Sunshine Coast corridor from Gibsons to Earls Cove, where they are expected to drop 40 to 80mm by Friday morning.

“This storm will be shorter in duration and less intense than the November 13-15 event,” Environment Canada said.

The next storm is expected for Saturday and early Sunday, and the third is expected to arrive next Tuesday, according to Global BC meteorologist Mark Madryga.

Blair said the federal government is monitoring the weather “very closely” to make sure the province has what it needs.

The emergency debate comes as the House of Commons recently met on Monday for the first time since the September elections gave the Liberals a minority government.

– with files from Amy Judd and Canadian Press