Latest / Kvetch & Release / Ottawa unveils $500B Climate Change adaptation fund

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Ottawa unveils $500B Climate Change adaptation fund · Kvetch & Release

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  You got it. Welcome back to am eight hundred Cklwim, John Lidkey and
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  if we take our eyes and set them up the four to oh one to
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  Ottawa, we will be seeing a half billion dollar fund to help cities adapt
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  to climate change, but our Environment minister says that more money is even needed.
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  Communities though, can now apply for their share of a five hundred and
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  thirty million dollar fund that's been set aside to help efforts to adapt to a
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  world of higher temperatures and more frequent severe storms. Joining me right now to
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  discuss is our Member of Parliament for Windsor to come see Eric Kusmirchick. How
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  are you doing today? Doing good? John? And Happy Environment Week.
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  Happy Environment Week to you as well, APT week. For this announcement,
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  something tells me that it was probably planned this way. Tell me a little
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  bit about out this fund and why it's needed. Why is the government rolling
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  this out now? Well, you know, John, we know that you
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  know, cities and towns and communities really are on the front lines of dealing
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  with climate change. And you know, you think about obviously the floods that
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  we experienced in Windsor, Essex in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen. I mean,
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  we saw that we lived through that nightmare. Thousands of homes were underwater because
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  of two one in one hundred year storms. We're seeing those happening with much
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  more frequency. Of course, last year we watched in horror as seventeen million
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  hectares of forest went up in smoke because of wildfires British Columbia, Alberta,
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  Quebec, and New Brunswick. And you know, we felt it even here
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  in Windsor. I mean, you stepped outside your front porch last summer and
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  you could taste the smoke. You know, you saw the smoke that was
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  just blanketing our community for about a week. And so, you know,
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  we're seeing the impacts of climate change. Cities and towns are on the front
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  lines dealing with it. They're the ones that pay the at the end of
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  the day, pay the cost of climate change and the frequency of those storms
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  and floods and wildfires. And so our federal government wanted to step up,
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  be a good partner and help communities adapt to climate change, mitigate its impacts,
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  prepare for it. And so we created this new fund and it's it's
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  five hundred and thirty million dollars and it's being administered under the Federation of Canadian
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  Municipalities and it's called the Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation. And the reason why
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  it's important to talk about it this week is because municipalities, towns and cities
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  in our in our region can apply for that funding. As we speak,
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  not only towns and cities and municipalities, but non government organizations, not for
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  profits. You can have research institutes, you know at the University of Windsor
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  and here I'm thinking of the Center for Cities that could apply for funding Indigenous
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  communities and so they can apply for funding which is up to one million dollars
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  for projects, and they can also apply up to seventy thousand dollars for what
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  are called feasibility studies as well too. But a million dollars is a lot
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  of funding, and I'm really hoping that local communities Windsor to come see Lake
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  Shore and other organizations here locally go after this money. And we'll do everything
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  we possibly can to get some of this funding here locally, because again we've
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  seen the ravages of climate change here in Windsor, Essex. We'd love to
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  be able to get that funding here to our community, and just to highlight,
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  the deadline for applications is gets the fourteenth. It's a very important one,
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  I mean, especially considering just how last year, as you said,
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  with the wildfires, if there was any ability to naturally reinforce, let alone
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  for flooding. As you discussed, it's a big deal to not only have
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  up to a million dollars for the shovel ready projects, but also, as
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  you said, the seventy grand for risk assessment and feasibility studies. It's not
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  a small amount of money that could really go a long way for especially smaller
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  municipalities in towns. Yeah, it's huge, absolutely, and it's a piece
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  of the puzzle. You know, we're in the middle right smack in the
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  middle of the Great Lakes. Last year, we were all listening to you
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  know, to URCA, the SX Region Conservation Authority, we're listening to other
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  local organizations because we saw the water rising on the Great Lakes, you know,
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  and so rather than waiting for it to happen, let's be proactive,
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  let's work together, let's bring partners together, let's go after this funding and
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  let's get some projects. And you know this, the projects can include everything
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  from you know, boosting or strengthening water treatment facilities. It could include tree
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  planting initiatives. We know trees absorb a lot of water and they help protect
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  from soil erosion. You can build naturalized areas with this, with this funding,
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  wetland restoration, shoreline protection and even things like you know. Today,
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  I was walking past city Hall Windsors city hollows in the area and I noticed
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  the green roofs and the rain gardens that the City of Windsor has implemented on
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  its on its rooftops. And so there's a lot of endless list of projects
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  that help communities adapt to climate change. And again, the only limit really
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  is our creativity. And like I said, I think there's a huge opportunity
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  here. So as you said, this is going to be flowing through the
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  Federation of Canadian Missipalities. They requested ten billion dollars over the next decade.
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  Now this is half a billion, and I know that our environment minister has
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  said half a billion's not ten billion, but it's not nothing. It is
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  still a pretty big gap between the two. I guess what would you say
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  to that. It is a gap, and it shows just how significant the
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  climate change crisis is, and you know, our Liberal government has put one
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  hundred billion dollars into fighting climate change since we took office in twenty fifteen.
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  It is a complete change and departure from the previous Conservative government which even to
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  this day has trouble even saying the word climate change, let alone committing to
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  fighting it. And I can tell you that since twenty fifteen we've put about
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  seven billion dollars on the table for climate adaptation and so there is absolutely more
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  work that needs to be done. There is a high cost to climate change,
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  we know that, but half a billillion dollars is still half a billion
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  dollars and we want to make sure we bring every single penny we can here
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  to our community because we know we need it. And you know, this
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  is part of the solution I talked about how this is one piece of the
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  puzzle. You know, we've also been able to bring significant funding to Windsor
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  Essex for what's called Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation funding or DMAF. We've actually brought
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  to Windsor delivered for Windsor Essex close to one hundred million dollars for disaster mitigation
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  funding and for things like water treatment facilities and if you drive down Riverside Drive
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  just off a Loson, you'll see the fences around the pumping station, Saint
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  Paul pumping station, and and basically the work that's being done there to strengthen
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  the pumping stations, to strengthen our water infrastructure, to prevent flooding in East
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  Riverside and on Old Riverside, and so and so. There's other funding envelopes
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  where we've got money flowing to our community to help us mitigate and prepare and
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  prevent flooding from happening and the impacts of climate change from happening in our community.
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  So this is not the only fund that's helping with adaptation and mitigation.
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  So various media outlets have of course reached out to the Conservatives to get comment
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  on and reaction in regards to this funding announcement, but at the same time
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  asking the Conservatives, what's your climate plan? And at this point, according
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  to a few different articles that are in the ether right now and circulating,
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  they have yet to state what their plans are. You're up in Ottawa often,
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  I presume you've got to be talking with some people on the other side
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  of the aisle. What's your take just on where the Conservatives are on this
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  file. Yeah, the Conservatives had what I would generously call a head in
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  the sand policy, which is basically, let's just ignore it and hope it
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  goes away. But you know, in windsor we know it's not going on
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  a way. We know it's getting worse. We see how frequent the storms
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  are. We've tasted that bitter you know pill in terms of the back to
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  back floods. We don't want to see that happen again. As a city
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  councilor you know, I was in the basements of a lot of neighbors there
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  as they were you know, two three four five feet underwater. We don't
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  want to repeat that. We know what's happening. And we're seeing the wildfires,
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  you know, basically consuming seventeen million hectors of forest. That was a
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  record last year. And so you know, we can't just ignore it.
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  We have to do something about it. We have to have a comprehensive plan.
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  We know the liberals do. We've put one hundred billion dollars behind it.
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  And more than just climate adaptation, it's also about adapting our economy and
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  so you know, take a drive. I encourage all residents to take a
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  drive down Banwell Road on the corner of zero. Take a look at that
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  huge battery plant that we're building there. Two and a half thousand jobs permanent,
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  local Canadian. There's two thousand folks right now, local Canadian building that
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  plant. And it's all about balancing the economy and the environment, and both
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  of those things go hand in hand. You can build a strong economy,
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  build jobs for the future, and also protect the environment at the same time.
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  And we know that if the Conservatives were in power today, we know
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  that they would absolutely gut climate action and they would also cut financial support and
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  federal support for that battery plan. And so you know the difference between liberal
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  and conservative on this issue. I mean, it couldn't be more black and
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  white, couldn't be more stark. Can we play a little bit of a
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  game right now? You matter? So I want you to take off your
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  MP hat and go back in time and put on your old city councilor hat.
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  And this fund now exists and Windsor is going to get a million dollars,
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  and you're in charge of what the project is. What's the number one
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  one that pops into your head? Well, you know what one of the
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  projects that I was thinking about that I'd love to be able to sit down
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  and and I hope to sit down with the mayor to discuss is sam Point
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  Beach, you know, the Sandpoint Beach. Obviously we've we've learned again the
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  tragedy that we saw with the drowning of the two young people recently. Obviously
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  we've seen tragedies like that in the past. It's really time for us to
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  move on the modernization and redesign of Sandpoint Beach. And there are elements there
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  that include a combined safety but also include for example, shoreline erosion mitigation.
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  There's flood mitigation elements there, and and so this may be a fund where
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  there's an opportunity to actually advance the improvement of Sandpoint, make it more safe,
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  and make it more climate resistant and flood resistant and erosion resistant resistant.
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  And maybe this is an opportunity for us to get at least the first phase
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  of that project done. So those are those are the types of projects that
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  that I would think about, because again we know that Sandpoint project has a
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  naturalized corridor, there is flood row elements to it, there is shoreline protection
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  elements to it, and of course above and beyond everything is the safety element
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  as well too. So perhaps this is a fund where we could actually tap
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  into some funding to get that move. But that is a big, big
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  impetus and there is an urgency to that that was highlighted by that by that
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  tragedy that just has happened way too often and way too frequently at Sandpoint.
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  Oh, I think that would be a really great use of that money and
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  hopefully some of our elected officials at the municipal level down here take that into
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  consideration. Eric Who's Marrichick is a Member of Parliament for Windsor to come see
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  discussing right now that five hundred million dollar fund to help cities adapt to climate
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  change. Thank you so much for your time today, John, anytime,
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  Absolutely enjoy it, anytime. Thank you. You have a great weekend.
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  You got it.