Singh vows NDP would double natural disaster support fund for communities

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his government would more than double the disaster mitigation funds provided to communities.

He made the announcement in Gatineau, Que., which has suffered severe flooding and tornadoes in the last few years.

Following a string ofnatural disastersacross the country, the Liberals committed $2 billion over 10 years to help communities. That money in the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund is used tomatch the funding of municipalities and provinces.

Under the Liberalplan, local governments must come up with half the cost and onlyinfrastructure projects with a price tag of more than $20 million qualify.

Singh says the NDP would boost that funding to $4.5 billion over four yearsand lower thethreshold to get projects approved, but still ask local governments to provide half the funding.

The money is to help communities respond to extreme weather events, Singh said. But it's also intended to help them get ahead of the damage caused by climate change byadapting their infrastructure to, for example, withstand or divert floods, he said.

"What we've seen for too long is there's a disaster, and then there's a response," he told reporters.

"And instead of responding after the case, what we'reproposing is if we give investments to municipalities right now, they can put in place the infrastructure to avoid thisfrom happening."

Singh promises more funding for disaster hit areas

5 years ago

Duration 0:44

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party would increase funding for infrastructure projects that would mitigate climate related disasters such as floods.

Singh said the NDP isalso prepared to work with the provinces and municipalities to address the fears and concerns of homeowners on floodplains.

That initiative would fall under the NDP's wider environmental plan, which would commit $15 billion to lower emissions and protect the environment.