Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, members of the committee.
My name is Doris Fortin. I'm the director general of policy, planning and partnerships at the Meteorological Service of Canada, which is part of Environment and Climate Change Canada. I am pleased to be with you today. I am joined by several colleagues, whom the chair has introduced.
Thank you for inviting me to discuss Bill C‑241 with you.
Flooding, as you know, is the most frequent and costly hazard in Canada. In addition to the significant costs incurred by Canadians—insured and non-insured costs from flooding—the Government of Canada has provided up to $230 million annually in post-flood relief between 2016 and 2025.
The bill is being introduced at a time when Canada's governments, at all levels, are working to improve how we support Canadians' resilience and, in doing so, are improving coordination across all of our businesses to enhance the preparedness for, the response to and the recovery from flooding events.
If passed, the bill would require the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature to develop a national flood and drought forecasting strategy in collaboration with the ministers of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Housing and Infrastructure, Energy and Natural Resources and Public Safety.
The minister will also be required to consult with provincial governments, indigenous governments and other relevant stakeholders, such as representatives from Canadian universities, civil society organizations and industry, particularly the insurance industry.
These consultations are key, as provinces and territories have primary legislative responsibilities for managing water resources within their territories. They are also responsible for land use and flood infrastructure. The federal government's role in this area involves supporting provinces and territories, including facilitating national coordination and providing environmental monitoring data.
For example, the national hydrological service, which is part of the meteorological service of Canada, collects, interprets and disseminates standardized water quantity information in Canada through the national hydrometric program. It does that in collaboration with all 13 provinces and territories. The program is cost-shared, which means that the federal government and the provinces and territories put money towards the program. This program basically acts as Canada's authoritative source for surface-water quantity data for use by all levels of governments and the Canadian public. The data supports flood and drought forecasting, water management and emergency response.
The Canada Water Agency—also a federal department—has a mandate for the improvement of freshwater management in Canada. Through its leadership, it fosters effective collaboration across the federal system, and improved coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories and indigenous people, to proactively address national and regional transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is the national lead for drought monitoring and reporting. It produces monthly drought assessments through the Canadian drought monitor, drawing on existing data sources, including data that the meteorological service of Canada produces from weather forecasting.
We know there are improvements to be made. Reports published by Public Safety Canada have acknowledged that there is a lack of coordination between different levels of government for flood forecasting and that few Canadians are aware of the available data, their personal risk level and the information that could help them mitigate risks.
The bill outlines specific elements that a strategy should include, including an assessment of the need for and benefits of national coordination, new investments and the application of new technologies for flood and drought forecasting. Another required element is an assessment of development opportunities for national flood and drought forecasting.
As proposed, the bill would also require an assessment of the need for modelling to identify properties and infrastructure at risk from floods. The federal government has taken action in related areas through, for example, the flood hazard identification and mapping program and the development of federally identified flood risk areas datasets, as well as collaborative work with academia to develop a national, open-source flood hazard model. The bill would also require preparing a proposal to establish a national hydrological and water resources forecasting service.
In short, through Bill C‑241, the federal government will continue to play its national coordinating role to help fill existing gaps in support of forecasting, while obviously working with the provinces, territories and other relevant stakeholders in this case.
Thank you all. We look forward to your questions.