Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for having me here on the day following World Environment Day to discuss adapting infrastructure to face climate change.
My name is Andrée Bouchard, and I am the mayor of the Ville de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, the eleventh Quebec municipality to increase its population to 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, and a garrison town with more than 355 years of history, that is now facing infrastructure challenges. Among other challenges, we will have to separate 90 kilometers of combined infrastructure networks by 2028, a mission impossible.
In the spring of 2011, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, like many neighbouring cities on the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain, experienced the worst floods ever recorded, which definitely marked the city's inhabitants the municipal authorities that cooperated in managing the crisis.
Twelve years later, I want to express my gratitude once again for the support provided by the community of the provincial government, the federal government, the army and employees of the city's various departments, who worked non-stop to manage an extraordinary situation.
During the floods, more than 1,600 residences had to be evacuated, 2,500 houses were damaged, and many businesses and farms were hard hit. It was estimated that more than 100 bridges and roads across the entire region affected by the floods were damaged.
The Groupe d'étude international du lac Champlain et de la rivière Richelieu, which was formed to study the floods, has established that more than $188 million in damage was caused, nearly $150 million of it in Quebec, mostly in Montérégie.
Incidentally, I invite you to read the report of the Commission mixte internationale sur le bassin de la rivière Richelieu et du lac Champlain, which cites many recommendations that have not been implemented to date. I sent the link to that report to the clerk a few minutes ago.
Since then, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu has taken part in an increasing number of environment-related initiatives. It joined the Municipalités amies du climat and was certified a City Friend of the Monarchs. It has also implemented an ambitious conservation plan. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is also a pioneer in the protection of natural environments, particularly as a result of a major $62 million acquisition strategy that has been in place for nearly 10 years.That acquisition strategy will be amended starting in 2024.
We have also established a climate plan to reduce greenhouse gases, or GHGs, including a component called the climate change adaptation plan. We have also adopted a tree policy, regulations on the use of pesticides for aesthetic purposes, a nourishing community development plan, which is being elaborated, and a responsible procurement policy.
Since 2010, we have maintained a partnership with the Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu to offer students free bus service. In addition, public transit is free of charge during key events and public holidays, and natural parks have been created to promote and provide access to nature.
In the next few years, it will be critically important for municipalities to obtain the federal government support necessary to fund the acquisition of the last remaining natural environments, the lungs of the highly urbanized living environments that we occupy.
In addition to elected representatives, we must make every effort to reduce GHGs, which are intimately related to the climate changes responsible for an excessive number of increasingly frequent natural disasters.
Levels of government, businesses, agencies and citizens, we must work together to do more for the environment. The real question we must ask ourselves is not whether another crisis will strike Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu or other riverside municipalities, but rather when. We must be ready to make our living environments more resilient to climate change.
Thank you for your attention.