Following historic flooding in the region, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark announced funding to help prevent future damage to infrastructure.
This funding will be on top of what is already available through the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance fund. Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Daryl Kramp explains that Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski will be involved in a consultation process done with those affected by flooding. “Before we can find a cure we have to be able to find what is the actual reason for all of the flooding,” he says.
“How is the power generation impacted that? Has there been dam control? Do you have excessive run-off? Has there been a heavier than normal allocation of moisture?” Kramp wonders. He says those are some of the questions that need to be answered for a solution can be found.
“This spring we saw the devastating effect of flooding in many Ontario communities,” Clark said. “We want to help municipalities build back better to flood-damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure to a higher standard, so it can better withstand extreme weather and we know that some municipalities have limited financial resources to improve local infrastructure.” Clark says money will be saved because communities will not have to continually rebuild the same area every year when it gets ruined by flooding.
The government pilot project is providing $1 million in funding on top of the existing MDRA fund. The province will provide municipalities that qualify for MDRA funding with up to 15 percent above the estimated cost of rebuilding damaged public infrastructure so that communities can make their infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather.
With files from Doug Crosse