Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak to the committee.
I'm a member of the board of trustees of the foundation, and I'll be speaking to the brief we provided to you earlier. I'll just highlight a couple of items in that.
First of all, I want to identify that we had an error that slipped into that piece, which talked about the value of weather-dependent industries and businesses in Canada. I think it identified in excess of $1 billion, and that should have been in excess of $100 billion annually for the Canadian economy.
Weather and climate are very much economic issues that affect the basic needs for food, water, safety, and security. I think all Canadians know that the weather patterns have changed in the past, and they will continue to do so. So far Canada has been somewhat fortunate, in that it hasn't seen some of the more devastating impacts of weather change, like the flood that's currently going on in Thailand. But it hasn't escaped all of that. In 2010 major weather events caused over $2 billion in disaster management and clean-up costs, not to mention the impacts on lives and livelihoods. In 2010 Hurricane Igor, on the east coast, cost $185 million. The forest fires in B.C. and Alberta cost something in the order of $230 million. And in July, a 30-minute thunderstorm in Calgary cost $400 million.
In addition, I think the costs of inaction are substantial. A recent report by the national round table indicated that the cost to Canada from climate change could escalate to $5 billion in 2020, and between $21 billion and $43 billion by the year 2050.
Climate change is presently a growing and long-term economic burden to Canada. Weather and climate will continue to change and will escalate. In that regard, we must not only understand that, but we must adapt to those changes to ensure that businesses and government have the tools they need for informed policy and operational and strategic decisions.
In that regard, we need knowledge. We need knowledge on the speed and severity of the changes of the conditions and their impacts on the Canadian economy. This requires targeted research by teams of experts from a multi-disciplinary approach, in universities, government labs, industry, and institutes—work that the foundation has been supporting up to now.
We also need to share that information, that data and knowledge, for the development of sound policies and practices.
In our brief the foundation has put forward its summation of what we need. We need targeted research to provide business and government and individuals with the tools they need to adapt to changing conditions, foster increased reliance, and the development of new business opportunities. It will save money by warning of new trends, reducing uncertainty, and justifying new policies, including updating building codes. It encourages technological advances, training, and marketing of Canadian development, all of which makes us more competitive internationally.
The foundation is recommending a proposal for a sustaining federal investment fund of some $50 million per year, over 10 years. In addition, it recommends the establishment of a policy forum to allow for the knowledge transfer, the collection of that research, and the translation of that into information that policy-makers and decision-makers can use in their day-to-day businesses to make those policy and business decisions.
The last point I would make is that we certainly have information and research right now, which is absolutely necessary, but it is not sufficient to meet future needs.
Thank you very much.