With wildfire smoke clouding Canadian cities, Ottawa unveils a climate adaptation plan

Open this photo in gallery:

The federal government launched its National Adaptation Strategy on Tuesday, calling it a plan that would help reduce risk and build climate-resilient communities at a time when thousands of Canadians are on evacuation order because of wildfires.

The strategy, an updated version of a document released in November, 2022, focuses on five areas: disaster resilience, health and well-being, nature and biodiversity, infrastructure and economy and workers. It includes actions such as flood mapping, wildfire mitigation and prevention activities and programs to protect Canadians from extreme heat events.

In announcing the plan, Ottawa said it had invested more than $6.5-billion in adaptation since 2015, including $2-billion since late 2022 to implement the National Adaptation Strategy.

But the total tab for the adaptation strategy is a moving target, with experts saying billions will be required to strengthen roads, dams and other infrastructure and invest in mitigation measures ranging from urban cooling centres to wildfire-fighting equipment.

“We see more severe climate impact with each passing year, with each passing season,” Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said Tuesday at a press conference to launch the strategy. “While we must reduce our emissions to keep the climate from getting worse, we must also make our communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change.”

The announcement was made at Vancouver city hall, where federal, provincial and city politicians, as well as Indigenous leaders, spoke of their support for the national plan.

Although the skies were clear and sunny, the threat of past and current extreme weather events loomed large.

Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair opened his remarks by noting that, as of Tuesday, there were 492 wildfires burning across Canada, with 258 out of those deemed out of control. About 7.7 million hectares of forest have burned to date this year, making 2023 Canada’s worst wildfire season on record.

“What we have witnessed so far this year must strengthen our resolve to take action and to enhance community strength so we can move from disaster risk to resilience,” Mr. Blair said.

Stronger roads, bridges, sewers; improved broadband services and a national alert system are all part of the strategy, Mr. Blair said.

By 2030, the average annual losses from disasters is forecast to reach $15.4-billion, Ottawa said Tuesday in a press release. But mitigation efforts can help reduce those costs, in theory paying for themselves: implementing new flooding and wildfire guidelines and standards for new construction could save Canada an estimated $4.7-billion a year, or nearly $12 for every $1 invested.

While the strategy is a federal document, issues such as building codes fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction. Ottawa says it plans to work with provinces and territories to develop “bilateral action plans” to implement the strategy and will also work with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities on Indigenous climate programs.

Blair Feltmate is head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo and a member of an advisory table for the adaptation strategy. The strengths of the new document include its focus on wildfires, floods and extreme heat; near-term, verifiable targets and its call for an “all hands on deck” approach, Mr. Feltmate said.

The targets include, for example, that 50 per cent of Canadians have taken concrete actions to prepare for climate change risks facing their households by 2025.

The risk, though, is that the plan isn’t executed and joins other well-crafted, ambitious strategies on the shelf.

“Historically, Canada has committed to climate plans that were very good and then not followed through on them,” Mr. Feltmate said. “We’ve got to hold our feet to the fire in terms of making sure we follow through – because historically, we have not done so.”

But extreme-weather impacts, including this year’s forest fires and the heat-related deaths of more than 600 people in B.C. in a 2021 heat dome, have become impossible to ignore, increasing the possibility that mitigation becomes a priority, he said.

Ryan Ness, director of adaptation with the Canadian Climate Institute, called the strategy a positive step but said results will depend on how well Ottawa implements its targets.

“Now we need to see the road map – what does the federal government need to do, and how do they have to work with other levels of government and other stakeholders, to make it happen.”

Opposition politicians criticized the plan.

“The Liberal government has failed to provide solutions to mitigate the impact of natural disasters in 8 years. While these strategies make for great press releases, what Canadians really need are results,” said an e-mailed statement from the office of Dane Lloyd, the Conservative shadow minister for emergency preparedness.

The federal government must work with provinces to ensure resources are available across Canada to respond to disasters, the statement added.

In a statement, NDP environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins said the government’s track record is “littered with broken promises” and called for urgent funding for public projects that foster climate change mitigation.

With a report from Marieke Walsh