Ottawa commits $20M to flood mitigation

Ottawa has committed $20 million towards cost-shared planning and initial project management work to address flood mitigation in BC.

The commitment was announced July 2 as part of the Canada-BC Cooperative Prosperity Agreement signed by BC Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney in Vancouver.

The federal announcement said the funding will “advance priority mitigation initiatives through future funding consideration and cost-share investments to address the complex risks within the Sumas Prairie to protect people, critical national corridor infrastructure, energy, and food security.”

Yet concrete action is overdue, say growers like sod farmer Bert Bos, whose farm shop bears witness to the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie.

“Do more doing. Flooding is a big thing,” he told Country Life in BC last month. “Things aren’t getting done. We’re still somewhat at risk.”

The announcement was the culmination of productive discussions this spring between the provincial and federal governments, according to BC agriculture minister Lana Popham.

“We’re very confident compared to where we were six months ago,” she told the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce’s annual agriculture tour on June 3.

Popham has not commented on funding announcement, but acknowledged in June that it wouldn’t lead to an “overnight fix.” Rather, it helps “bring back some hope” pending a long-term solution.

The province has been asking Ottawa to step up with flood mitigation funding for years, ponying up $76.6 million in February 2024 in lieu of any meaningful contribution from the federal government.

The funding supported upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station, which was pushed to capacity during the November 2021 flooding of Sumas Prairie.

“The province is not waiting for the Feds,” Eby said at the time. “We’re here for the continuing costs of recovery.”

Eby was silent on the new funding for flood mitigation, however, instead touting the agreement’s leaving intact a ban on tanker traffic off the province’s north coast.

The next day, Carney met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and said oil would instead flow through a pipeline south to Roberts Bank.

However, the Conservative Party of BC said that deal would disrupt farming operations in the Fraser Valley, diminishing BC’s food security.

“At a time when we need more local food production and need to support British Columbian farmers, the NDP wants to destroy farmland in Delta, Langley and Richmond,” Conservative treasury board critic John Rustad said in a statement. “Farmers and rural British Columbians keep having to pay the price for this government’s policies.”

With files from Ronda Payne

 

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