Evidence of meeting #23 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Ongoing zoning is still happening today—maybe not in your community but in communities across the country. Developers are building on these areas, which have been zoned by municipalities and provinces to allow that development.
It's almost negligent.
Mayor, Town of Princeton
You have to balance the property owner's equity with what we do and how we build it. I think that's where the struggle comes from, especially when it's all left up to the local government. To be honest, we go to the grocery store, and those people are going to get us. It's a real challenge. I understand that.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, witnesses.
Welcome, Mr. Falk and Monsieur Lavoie. Thank you for being here today.
I want to start with Ms. Myers and talk about climate adaptation and mitigation.
What current steps is the government taking to support the real estate sector?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Real Estate Association
None come to mind off the top of my head.
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Real Estate Association
What we have recommended is a national insurance program that we think could definitely help as a backstop for private insurance.
We also think there should be incentives for people to take action to prepare their properties against fire, particularly. There are lots of things that can be done in that regard. Those kinds of programs would certainly help. Putting on a metal roof and those sorts of things are very costly, but if there are rebates or the ability for people to take action, as is recommended, they would.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
How much is long-term resilience becoming more of a factor for homeowners and homebuyers as they choose a home they want to take care of?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Real Estate Association
I don't have specific data on that, but I would say, from personal experience thinking about going back to the Okanagan to retire someday, it certainly gives me pause. I'm thinking about the type of home I would look at that would have some of those building materials that could protect it from a fire.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Okay.
I want to talk to Mr. Redfearn.
I have been to Grand Forks. I drove through there to bring my kids to Christina Lake, which is a beautiful part of our province, so I know how beautiful and resilient your community is, watching from afar in my community.
I know how resilient you are. What are some of the successes you've seen with your community and community members in rebuilding and becoming more resilient as you move forward through these many unfortunate circumstances?
Chief Administrative Officer, City of Grand Forks
I think number one is the realization we couldn't buy all of the properties or we couldn't remove all of the properties from our community. We have our mill and we have our insulation plant with 350 employees right in the centre of some of the areas that flood, so it's the realization it needs to be a managed-retreat approach that balances some of this planning, acquisition and restoring land, our 10 acres, back to the rivers.
We see individuals in our community also taking it upon themselves. We flood primarily, and we've also had some forest fires and people are becoming more aware, although through our planning department we still have to explain to people what flood plains are and that there are flood construction levels and we need qualified professionals. It's still challenging.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you.
Mayor Coyne, I know you're a member of the Upper Similkameen Indian Band. I love the picture behind you. You may know that I'm from the Musqueam First Nation on the coast of British Columbia. I'm also on a flood plain. Say hello to Chief Jacobsen, if you see her. She's a friend of mine.
You talked about natural education and indigenous knowledge. How have you been incorporating that, and what kind of successes are you seeing of that nature?
Mayor, Town of Princeton
I'll start by saying we have not seen a lot of success. A lot of our rules are based around not allowing that stuff to actually happen. In between our dike and our river, we're supposed to have everything cleared out. We're not allowed to plant willows and cottonwoods back that help absorb that water. That's been one of the biggest challenges for me: trying to incorporate into a western system those things we know are there to help with the floods.
On the forest fire part, we're looking at thinning, bringing back cultural burns and how to utilize those things to minimize the buildup on the forest floor.
There's been a little bit more success with the forestry part, but the flooding part has been a real challenge because of the idea that you're not allowed to have stuff between the river and the top of your dike.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Very quickly, Mayor Coyne, your town is very important to a lot of people who go for recreational use. How has this impacted wildlife and other things in your territory?
Mayor, Town of Princeton
We've seen a huge change in the way our ungulates are moving around, especially our elk herds, with the forest fires and whatnot, and it's adding extra pressure, especially during hunting season, when we have droves of people coming up from the Lower Mainland, and then you've had massive burn-offs.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
Thank you, gentlemen.
Mr. Bonin, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We are fortunate to have a mayor with us today.
I would therefore like to ask the Mayor of Princeton my next question.
In the federal government's latest 2025 budget, there is no additional money set aside for climate change adaptation, per se.
In your opinion, is not having any additional money this year a problem?
Do you think this lack of support from the federal government might generate additional costs and losses?
Mayor, Town of Princeton
It is a major problem for me. That's why I'm part of the Climate Caucus and the Elbows Up for Climate group. We're trying to push for that climate adaptation funding for municipalities across this country.
My town is 3,000 people. My annual budget is about $4 million in taxation. I can't do this alone. I need support from the federal and provincial governments, but we all need to be supporting each other on this, and I cannot stress that enough. You cannot expect small rural communities to deal with these things on our own. We're the front line of these massive events and we're also the economic driver of the country. I have a mine and a mill. We have more jobs than we have homes and people for. We can't continue to expect to survive if we don't have some sort of adaptation and mitigation program to help us.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Do you think the first thing the federal government should do is inject money so municipalities can manage things within their own jurisdiction?
Would that be the most pressing need?
Mayor, Town of Princeton
I think that's a big part of it. As I said in my opening comment, I don't think this can be legislated. It has to be place-based in a lot of cases. Grand Forks' situation and the way that they're mitigating it is not going to be the same for my community, and the sooner we understand that there's no silver bullet here, I think the better we'll be.
We have experts, people who know what they're doing, and we're working on this every day with or without the help of the federal government or the provincial government. We're doing the work now. We just need support financially and a little bit of coordination from above to make sure that all the resources end up where they need to be.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
Thank you, gentlemen.
Mr. Ross, the floor is yours for five minutes.
Conservative
Ellis Ross Conservative Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you.
Thank you to the witnesses for joining us here today. It's an interesting conversation.
I'll talk to the mayor of Princeton in terms of some of the comments that were made talking about nature-based solutions for flooding as well as possible infrastructure improvements like diking. I do agree that the solutions should be regionally based and community based, but that is not how the legislation works.
I've tried a number of times in my riding to help residential properties mitigate and remediate some damage from flooding but, to be clear, when it comes to properties in my riding especially, the priority is not residential use when it comes to diking or flooding. The priority is salmon, for example, and it's going to take a lot of time to change that. That's not mentioning Environment Canada's legislation and regulations and not mentioning provincial jurisdictions.
I do agree that this has to be all hands-on to talk about this, but it's going to have to be a really strong political and coordinated approach to convince government—any government—to say that, yes, we have to start prioritizing residential use versus, say, what's best for salmon.
Has the mayor come across any conversation in that context?
Mayor, Town of Princeton
A little bit. Thank you for that question, because we're not on a salmon-bearing river, but we are on part of the Columbia River system. There are complexities down the river as there are dealing with any river, especially in British Columbia. They're all subject to federal and international rules.
I think the answer is that we all have to sit down at the same table and take off whatever hat we're wearing and just remember that we're all people and we all represent the same people at the end of the day. Forget about what level of government you come from and talk about what's best for people and the land that we're dealing with. I think that's the big breakdown.