Built environment

• Forest fires in British Columbia are expected to begin earlier and last longer this year and severe multi-year droughts are forecast for the Prairies.
• In the lead-up to the federal government’s 2024 budget, there was hope for investments in water management and water-related infrastructure to help address some of these issues.

Fires and droughts

• The budget is light on details — and critical infrastructure investments — regarding the management of fires and droughts.
• But they are often politically contentious and have many social and environmental impacts that need to be weighed during the decision-making process.
• Given the recurring jurisdictional spats between Ottawa and the provinces over water management issues, this lack of commitment to large-scale infrastructure is perhaps unsurprising.

Focus on emergency management

• In contrast to Ottawa’s actions, Alberta recently dedicated funds in its provincial budget to address the urgent threat of a looming drought.
• On the topic of fires, while the federal government acknowledged in early April the looming destructive wildfire season, the budget is focused exclusively on emergency management and firefighter training.
• While it’s important to prepare, such a focus ignores an arguably more pressing problem — the lack of infrastructure required to provide the water for firefighting.

Floods

• It did, however, propose almost $7 million over five years for the Meteorological Service of Canada’s early warning system for extreme weather events, with a focus on floods and storm surges.
• However, this type of policy approach doesn’t address the root causes that result in the occurrence of floods; rather, it focuses on paying out for damages after the floods have happened.
• Ultimately, what is perhaps most striking about the issue of floods in the 2024 budget is how little attention they received and how much of it may be buried under housing-related budget measures.

Housing and wastewater

• The third major water-related aspect we examined in the 2024 budget concerned housing and water management in the built environment.
• There were many welcome references in the budget about the need to invest in urban storm water and wastewater infrastructure.
• This is definitely an important component in dealing with rapid growth and housing affordability issues in Canadian cities, but it will be critical for infrastructure investments to go beyond the status quo and incorporate novel storm-water systems and green infrastructure.

What still needs to be done

• In the end, this budget did little to address the concerns many Canadians have about climate-related impacts and water security.
• There must be investments in sustainable water-use programs and timely water measurements.
• The above being said, infrastructure alone won’t solve the complex issues of climate-related water management.

Kerry Black receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. David Barrett receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, provincial research grants, and collaborates on projects receiving NSERC Alliance funding.